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COPYRiGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE RUSSIAN ARMY FROM WITHIN 



THE RUSSIAN ARMY 
FROM WITHIN 



BY 

W. BARNES STEVENI 

Twenty-five Years Special Correspondent 
Resident in Russia 



NEW YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



Cafv| 



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Copyright, 1914, by 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



^^^ 19 1914 ' 
• G1,A387093 '^'^ 






X 



PREFACE 

OWING to the unusual interest now taken in 
Russian military matters, I have been in- 
duced to write the following account of the Russian 
Army from within. This little work, written in less 
than a fortnight, does not profess to be of a techni- 
cal nature, but is simply an account of the Russian 
commanders and soldiers and the impression they 
made upon me during the twenty-seven years I re- 
sided in various parts of the Empire, more espe- 
cially in Cronstadt, Finland, Petrograd, Krasno 
Selo, Little Russia and the Caucasus. 

W. B. S. 
London, September, 1914. 



CONTENTS 
CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

The Country and the Army ii 

CHAPTER n 
Russia's Strength in Men and Money .... 19 

CHAPTER ni 
The Peasant — the Backbone of the Army . . 29 

CHAPTER IV 
Ivan: the Russian Tommy Atkins .... 41 

CHAPTER V 
Uniform, Arms, and Artillery 57 

CHAPTER VI 
The Japanese War and Its Lessons .... 71 

CHAPTER VII 
The Cossacks 87 

CHAPTER VIII 

The Cossacks in Modern Times and a Cossack 
Amazon Now at the Front 99 

7 



8 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IX 
The Disposition of the Troops, and the Realism of page 

THE MaNCEUVRES II5 

CHAPTER X 
Bayonet and Sword 129 

CHAPTER XI 
Liability to Serve . . . . ' . . . . 135 

CHAPTER Xn 
Discipline 143 

CHAPTER Xni 
Officers and Friends in High Places .... 151 

CHAPTER XIV 
Military Schools 167 

Concluding Remarks 173 

Appendix 179 



THE COUNTRY AND THE ARMY 



CHAPTER I 
THE COUNTRY AND THE ARMY 

IT is now a thousand years ago since the Slav- 
onian chieftains of the ancient city of Nov- 
gorod sent a deputation to the Varangian Rus on 
the other side of the Baltic, begging them to come 
and rule over them ; for their country was great and 
vast, but there was no order. Although so many 
generations have passed away since these Vikings 
came to Russia and laid the foundations of the 
first Russian state, the above words still apply to 
the Russia of to-day. Great she is, but there is 
very little order. This being the case, a year may 
elapse before she can get her full fighting force into 
the field. How great her fighting capacity is when 
properly organised we can judge from the fact that 
the Empire is three times the size of America and 
more than forty times the area of France. 

A series of excellent harvests and a period of 
industrial prosperity have tended to heal the wounds 
caused by the Japanese war much more quickly than 
might have been expected. The enormous sums of 

II 



12 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

money borrowed from France, estimated to exceed 
600 millions sterling, have helped to replenish the 
state treasury, to reconstruct the navy that was de- 
stroyed at Tchushima and Port Arthur, to construct 
important strategic railways to the Austrian and 
German frontiers, and to arm the forces with the 
very best rifles and quick-firing artillery, which in 
the Japanese war were frequently entirely lacking 
just when most required. 

The Russian Government, in view of this long- 
expected struggle with her western neighbours, has 
for some time been accumulating a gold reserve, 
with the result that she is said to have 167 million 
pounds of gold laid by in the Treasury for war ex- 
penditure as compared with Germany's £83,000,000. 
We must remember that Russia is about the only 
self-supporting European state. Her huge terri- 
tories stretch in one unbroken line from the Baltic 
to the Pacific, a total distance of about 7000 English 
miles. In this vast expanse every product, every 
mineral required by man, occurs in such abundance 
that considerable quantities have to be exported. 
The great forests of the North contain millions of 
acres of the finest timber, .while the industrial region 
around Moscow and Warsaw supplies the Army and 
people with all the clothing and textiles they require. 
South of Moscow there is "Little Russia the Boun- 



THE COUNTRY AND THE ARMY 13 

tiful," with its expanses of corn, wheat, rye, buck- 
wheat, maize, oats and other cereals, its fine vine- 
yards and thousands of acres covered with tobacco 
and sugar-beet. There is also the rich granary of 
Siberia, which alone could grow sufficient grain to 
supply the whole of Europe. It would take volumes 
to describe the inexhaustible piscatorial, arborial, 
agricultural and mineral wealth of this Empire. I 
have, however, said enough to show that Russia 
could, if necessary, carry on a defensive war for 
years without feeling the need of importing any- 
thing from abroad. 

This war, however, will probably not be waged 
on defensive lines, for the Russians have already 
invaded Austria and Germany in force at about six 
different points. In this case they will not require 
to make use of vast stretches of territory — marshes, 
morasses and forests — to bring their enemies to 
destruction, as they did the armies of Charles XII 
and Napoleon. But whatever kind of war Russia 
may choose, defensive or offensive, she is a mighty 
force to be reckoned with by her foes, if they are 
wise and not too self-confident. 

Not only rich in money, which Cicero called "the 
sinews of war," Russia has more men at her dis- 
posal for military service than any other nation in 
Europe or America. Every year about 1,300,000 



14 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

men attain the age when they are liable for service. 
Of this number only 450,000 are taken, for the 
simple reason that the state has no need for any 
more. Those who are chosen are physically the best ; 
Russia cannot afford to keep weaklings in her army 
in a country where the conditions of life are so try- 
ing that only men with the very strongest constitu- 
tions can withstand them. Owing to the enormous 
size of the Empire and the hundreds of races and 
tribes inhabiting it, the total armed strength of 
Russia is still an unknown quantity. According to 
Russian statistics, which I see no reason to doubt, 
the total mobilised standing army with reserves 
numbers about 6 million trained men, or 20 per cent 
of the population. In addition to this there is the 
''Opolchina," or militia, numbering over a million 
men. The "Opolchina" consists of soldiers averag- 
ing between forty and fifty years of age who have 
served their term in the line and reserves. In spite 
of their age, many are excellent soldiers, in some 
respects superior to the troops of the regular army. 
When Russia was conquered and overrun by the 
Poles it was the Opolchina of Nishni Novgorod, 
under the command of Prince Pbsharsky and the 
butcher Minin, who led the way to Moscow, drove 
the enemy out of the Kremlin, and saved the land 
from the domination of a foreign yoke. During the 



THE COUNTRY AND THE ARMY 15 

invasion of Napoleon in 1812 the Opolchina, under 
the leadership of the "Pomeschike" (country gen- 
try), also rendered signal service to their country. 

After these forces come about 16,000 gendarmes, 
the pick of the army, and about 35,000 frontier 
guards, always on a war footing. This admirable 
body of men, which was organised under M. Witte, 
the famous Chancellor, probably already has been 
in action, for its members would be the first to meet 
an invader crossing the borders. Besides patrolling 
the frontiers, they are used to track and fight with 
smugglers who carry on a lively but dangerous busi- 
ness on both the Asiatic and European side. 
Owing to the high duties on all articles of luxury, 
and on many of the necessities of life, it pays the 
lawless to run the gauntlet, just as it did the same 
class in England during the Georgian and early 
Victorian periods. The frontier guards, who are 
continually contending with smugglers and other 
desperate people, are all picked men — first-class 
horsemen, excellent shots, enduring and resourceful. 

The frontier guards are little known outside of 
Russia; but the Cossacks have gained for them- 
selves a world-wide reputation for their horseman- 
ship, daring, hardihood and contempt of death or 
danger. In all, there are about 850,000 Cossacks, 
drawn not only from the Don, Donetz, the Caucasus 



i6 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

and the Urals, but also from the far-distant prov- 
inces of Siberia. The Cossacks are such an inter- 
esting body that I will describe them in detail later 
on, and explain many curious features concerning 
them that are not known to the general public; for 
I have lived among them. 



RUSSIA'S STRENGTH IN MEN 
AND MONEY 



CHAPTER II 

RUSSIA'S STRENGTH IN MEN 
AND MONEY 

FROM the Russian habit of understating the 
strength of each regiment I am indined to 
beheve that the effective fighting force is even 
greater than is officially announced. If the coun- 
try is now able to raise such an enormous standing 
army with ease what will she be able to do in an- 
other hundred years? Only about 200 years ago 
Peter the Great was living a peaceful life near the 
site of the present Charing Cross Station, study- 
ing the art of shipbuilding. Russia then possessed 
no fleet worthy of the name. Her population was 
about 14 million souls. By the year 1859 it had 
risen to 74 millions; in 1897 i^ was 129 millions 
without including Finland; in 1904 it had reached 
143 millions, and in 1906, according to a detailed 
estimate of the Central Statistical Committee, the 
total was 149 millions. At the present time those 
who are qualified to judge put the number at the 
enormous figure of 180 millions — ^a notable increase 

19 



20 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

since Peter "knocked his window into Europe!" 
As the numbers, roughly speaking, double them- 
selves every fifty years, Russia will be seen to have 
the largest rate of increase in the Continent; thus 
she seems to be able to neglect losses that would 
spell disaster, if not decay, for less favoured lands. 
In 1892, for example, during the great famine, 
about 700,000 people perished from hunger and 
other causes, and in the following year about 300,- 
000 were carried off by cholera ; yet these losses do 
not seem to have affected her in the slightest. 
Whilst Germany adds to her population at the rate 
of I million souls a year, Britain at the rate of 
350,000, and France has practically no increase 
worth mentioning, "Holy Mother Russia," thanks 
to the fertility of her own mothers, has an annual 
growth of 3 million — equal to the whole popula- 
tion of Denmark. In another half-century, without 
counting her Slav allies in the south, she will have 
360 millions of inhabitants, at the lowest estimate. 
It is apparent that whatever happens, she is able 
to call any number of men to the colours to con- 
tinue this war and to fight to the bitter end; where- 
as for her opponents, Austria and Germany, this 
is absolutely impossible, for reasons which do not 
come within the scope of the present work. Even 
should she by chance be defeated, it will only de- 



RUSSIA'S STRENGTH 21 

lay the day when she will be the predominant power 
in Europe. 

Napoleon foresaw this, and his prophecy that 
Europe in a hundred years would be Republican 
or Cossack would have come true had not the Re- 
public in France been overthrown and Russia set 
back a hundred years or more by three great wars 
— the Crimean campaign, which cost her 100,000 
men; the Russo-Turkish war, in which she lost 
172,000, and the Japanese struggle, in which she 
is supposed to have lost about 350,000. In men 
alone she has been obviously badly weakened, apart 
from the millions in money uselessly expended in 
these more or less unsuccessful conflicts. In ad- 
dition to this, almost every year disastrous famines 
and epidemics occur in some portion of this vast 
Empire, to carry off other millions in a less public, 
but not less dreadful, manner. 

In spite of such drawbacks, her power of con- 
tinuing the war from a financial point of view is 
probably greater than that of any of the countries 
concerned. With a revenue of at least £300,000,- 
000 a year, and a war reserve of about £165,000,- 
000, she would be able, if she met with no serious 
catastrophe, to carry on her part in the present 
struggle for at least two or three years, easily, for 
there are several sources as yet untried by which 



22 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

the necessary funds might be obtained. In addition 
to the huge revenue, and great natural wealth in 
cereals, timber and minerals, she has a number of 
enormously rich monasteries. Some of these pos- 
sess untold treasure in the shape of gold, silver and 
jewels which have not yet found their Henry VIII 
to despoil them. 

Among the more wealthy religious establishments 
I may mention the Monastery of the Troitska, near 
Moscow; the Pechersk Monastery of Kieff, the 
Solovetsk Monastery on an island in the White 
Sea and the Alexander Nevsky Monastery at St. 
Petersburg. This last is said to have an income of 
£500,000 a year. It is so noted, in fact, that dur- 
ing the reign of the Tsar Nicholas the monks lent 
considerable sums to the Crown for the prosecution 
of the war. 

In the event of necessity these establishments, 
and many more, could be called upon to contribute 
to the requirements of the State; naturally, how- 
ever, this measure would not be resorted to except 
as a last hope. 

Russia can also borrow money from the million- 
aires of Moscow, the nobility, the rich merchants 
and land-owners. During the last thirty years she 
has become a great industrial State, with a home 
market of about 160 million customers, and many 



RUSSIA'S STRENGTH 23 

fortunes have been made. Owing to the protective 
policy of the Government, Moscow, Petersburg, 
Kieff, Odessa, Warsaw, Lodz and other large cities 
and towns now contain many wealthy men, whose 
assets can be counted, if not in millions of pounds 
sterling according to English reckoning, at least in 
millions of roubles. In a prolonged conflict these 
princes of commerce would probably be obliged to 
lend or to give up a part of their accumulations to 
the State, as it has been owing to State bounties 
and the protection of industries by high tariffs that 
they have been able in a comparatively short time 
to make such vast fortunes. The very fact that 
the people of Moscow have just raised £1,000,000 
sterling, in a week, for the help of those who will 
suffer from the effects of this war is eloquent as to 
the generosity of the inhabitants and the wealth 
of their "White-walled Moscow" — which is really 
the heart and centre of the Empire, rather than St. 
Petersburg. 

The State Railways form another immensely val- 
uable asset; in case of need, a considerable sum 
could be raised on this security. There is also the 
spirit monopoly, which brings in a revenue of at 
least 90 millions a year ; the tobacco monopoly, too, 
is owned by the State and is capable of great ex- 
tension, for tobacco can be grown in large quanti- 



2^o THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

ti^i^i^d Is extremely cheap. Further taxation of the 
pe^op]^, however, would be a dangerous expedient, 
as. Ijljije^ tax-paying capacity of the peasantry has been 
fpiTfiqd to its highest limit, and an increase of the 
ex^f;fIons might lead to a revolution, which could 
b^jrtjiqre disastrous to Russia than a victory of the 
G^ri^fns. 

( Jqternal disorders, in fact, might prevent Russia 
f|"!:^njf,continuing the war until Germany was com- 
ple^^y exhausted. At present, according to ad- 
vj^^^ I have received from St. Petersburg, the inten- 
tly; js to fight until the overbearing might of Prus- 
s'v^jff a nightmare of the past; this intention the 
I^^i^ians will probably carry into effect unless dis- 
seijLsions in Finland, Poland, the Baltic Provinces, 
S,9p^ Russia and the Caucasus compel a peace with 
tlj|^[^n.emy. So far, there are few signs of this di- 
v^fff^qn of energy. 

^S| J regards her food supply, there is probably 
more than sufficient now that the grain exports 
vi^.^e Baltic and the Black Sea have been stopped. 
Tjhe .enormous amount of cereals that Russia an- 
nually exports to England, Germany, Holland and 
tl|^ ^9andinavian kingdoms will for the time re- 
m^\r^ in the country, and — a curious paradox — the 
pricp jOf food will be lower in war time than in 
pe^i9^ful years. In case of need, quantities of grain, 



RUSSIA'S STRENGTH 25 

cattle, and horses can be obtained from Siberia, a 
territory which under proper cultivation could sup- 
ply the whole of Europe with food. From these 
comments on the situation it will be easily realised 
that Russia, as regards men, money and natural re- 
sources has nothing to fear from a continuation 
of the struggle for which she has been preparing 
for many years. 



THE PEASANT— THE BACKBONE OF 
THE ARMY 



'^O 



08 

i briB 

'!boO 
CHAPTER III ;^irrnft 



THE PEASANT— THE BACKBONE 

THE ARMY ^ '^"^ 

)rlJ lo 

THE Russian Army is recruited principaJJijy 
from the peasant class and from vral-tous 
nomadic races inhabiting the Eastern provineeSilfiit 
is estimated that in all there are about 120 miHi<?^ 
peasants in the Russian Empire, and probafelyijut* 
body of men in existence is so hardy as thisinttp^ 
which the future of the country largely dependfeoD 
Their physique is very fine as comparedv/witJi 
that of other European races; they are, howQ"ftf3", 
intensely ignorant and superstitious, and tooid^q- 
quently the victims of terrible famines. InidlSlitft 
Russian villages there are no doctors or trfltned 
nurses, and it is no wonder that the deatb-r^ftte 
is appalling. When a peasant is taken ill, onlyjtwio 
remedies are available as a rule, a hot bath; ^-Hld 
the "Feldshiir" — who is generally an old s^ldj&r 
with a little rudimentary knowledge of surgftPJ 
picked up when on military service. He is, iorffaot, 
a kind of rural Dr. Sangrado, and if blood-|Qtitii;^g 

29 



30 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

and the "banja" (the vapour bath) do not help, 
then the patient must die — for "such is the will of 
God!" Some villages have the questionable ad- 
vantage of a "znarcharka" or wise woman, who 
firmly believes in herbs, drugs, and incantations. 
A few of these women are undoubtedly very skil- 
ful, but I have reason to know that the majority 
of them are gross charlatans, who kill more people 
than they cure. 

If the mortality is enormous, however, the birth- 
rate is astonishing. The "baba," the simple peasant 
woman, glories in the number of her offspring; if 
half her children die, she consoles herself with the 
saying, "Bog dal ee Bog vzyal" — God gave and 
God took. But God, one must think, has little to 
do with this vast mortality; it is generally the re- 
sult of ignorance, impossible sanitary conditions, 
poor food, and a struggle for life against an inhos- 
pitable climate and bad soil. 

In spite of these adverse conditions, the peasantry 
increase at such a rate that I have heard officers 
boast that the "baba" would conquer the Germans 
by the number of her children, without counting 
the men. Every woman has on an average from 
six to twelve, of whom about half survive. Thanks 
to her, the people grow at the rate of 3 millions a 
year; the Germans increase only at the rate of a 



THE PEASANT 31 

million. From this hardy stock the Russian Tommy 
Atkins is chiefly supplied. Of course the Little 
Russians, Tartars, Finns, Lithuanians, Tchoovash, 
Khirgise, Esths, Poles, and Circassians send a large 
contingent, but the bulk and backbone of Russia's 
grey-coated millions come from the Krestjane, or 
peasant classes. The ordinary peasant, the man 
who has built up the Russian Empire with his blood 
and his toil, is not a big man; he is of medium stat- 
ure, broad-shouldered and sturdy, with square 
forehead, square jaw, regular Arian features, and 
a flowing beard, unless he comes of Tartar or Fin- 
nish extraction. In short, the pure Russian is an 
Arian like ourselves, with a considerable admix- 
ture of Scandinavian blood in his veins — especially 
in the Northern Governments, where the finest Rus 
or Russian types are found. 

The South Russian, of the beautiful, fertile land 
of the Ukraine, is usually tall and muscular, but 
he has not the energy, tenacity, or endurance of the 
Great Russian from the North. 

The Tartars also make good soldiers, and as a 
rule are extremely hardy, temperate and trust- 
worthy — so reliable, in fact, that often the most 
important posts are entrusted to their care. Not 
having the weakness for vodka common to the 
Russian soldier, the Tartar can be depended upon in 



32 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

a crisis to keep perfectly sober. He is, however, be- 
lieved to be more cruel, probably owing to his Mon- 
golian strain, which makes him, when roused, cal- 
lous to human suffering and reckless of human life. 

The typical pure Russian is a big-hearted man. 
Unlike the Tartars, Finns and other Mongolians, 
he is not spiteful. When injured he seldom en- 
deavours to be revenged on his enemy, like the 
Tartars, Bashkirs, Khirgise and other Turanian 
races, li he is a true and typical son of Russia he 
endeavours to forget the injury, and relieves his 
feelings by spitting, swearing, or simply by saying, 
"Bog S'vam" (the Lord be with thee), meaning 
that he leaves it to God to settle the account. 

As a rule the Russian conscript carries with him 
into the Army many of the best as well as the 
worst qualities; he remains careless, procrastinat- 
ing, happy-go-lucky, slavish, superstitious and gen- 
erally exceedingly ignorant. In fact, the majority 
of the recruits — about 70 per cent — cannot read 
or write when they enter the Tsar's service. It 
then devolves upon the officers to "lick these shock- 
headed peasants into shape" and to convert them 
into smart soldiers — a long and painful process. 
But if the officers have patience, the finished ma- 
terial is excellent. The practice of keeping the peo- 
ple in ignorance, for state reasons, makes it easier 



THE PEASANT 33 

to govern these teeming millions in peace ; but when 
war breaks out and the Government requires well 
instructed men to defend the country and carry 
out orders intelligently, the short-sightedness of this 
policy immediately makes itself evident. This fact 
is so patent that we may safely say, should the 
Germans be victorious in this vv^ar, that it will mainly 
be owing to the illiteracy of the Russian soldier 
and the want of thoroughness in the training of 
the officers. Physically and mentally the soldiers 
and officers are equal, if not superior, to the Ger- 
mans, and are brave to foolhardiness. But their 
want of training and education will be found, time 
after time, to place them at a great disadvantage 
with their more instructed Teutonic opponents, who 
are not only painfully accurate, but as a rule ex- 
tremely well educated. The very fact that they 
dare to measure their strength — though far inferior 
in numbers and resources — with the allied might 
of Russia, France, England, Belgium and Servia 
shows that they regard their superior education, 
compared with the Russian, as a great and valuable 
asset. 

Yet, if the average Russian soldier is not equal 
to the Teuton in this respect, he has qualities which 
have many times placed him on a pedestal and 
helped to build up the great Empire. At Eylau, 



34 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

his stubbornness and contempt of death evoked the 
admiration of Napoleon, who, on seeing how the 
Russians stood their ground, exclaimed : "One has 
not only to kill them, but knock them over," At 
Borodino, Sevastopol, Port Arthur and many other 
terrible scenes of slaughter, we have all seen what 
the simple grey-coated soldier is capable of when 
called upon. When led by one in whom he has 
confidence, no hardship, privation, or act of hero- 
ism seems too much for him, especially if he is in 
sympathy with the cause for which he is fighting. 
Under Souvoroff and Koutesoff the Russian sol- 
dier withstood the best troops of Napoleon, and 
frequently defeated them; under Radetsky, Skobe- 
loff and Linevitch he has shown equal bravery. The 
finest soldiers in the Army are, without cpestion, 
the Guards, who are usually stationed in and around 
St. Petersburg. This splendid body of men, usually 
numbering 200,000, is not only better paid and 
better fed than the ordinary troops of the line, but 
also better trained and educated. In times of 
crisis, during revolutions, or when prospects of vic- 
tory abroad have been at their lowest ebb, it has 
been the Guards who, time after time, have saved 
the dynasty and secured victory. Should the tide 
of war go against the Russians, it will probably be 
the Guards who again restore success. 



THE PEASANT 35 

Although the soldier is so formidable and self- 
sacrificing in war, in time of peace he is, in many- 
ways, a veritable child. In the barracks he learns 
to read and write, and frequently practises some 
handicraft which serves him in good stead when 
he returns to his native village — no more a rough 
and ignorant country bumpkin, but in some respects 
a "man of the world." He also learns to drink 
vodka and to swear like a trooper — two accom- 
plishments which might very well be dispensed 
with. In one of Tolstoi's plays, "The Fruits of 
Culture," we have a typical specimen of one of these 
old soldiers, who has certainly learned more evil 
than good during his term of service. But if some 
of the weak ones go under, there are many who 
benefit by military training and return to their vil- 
lages, men in every sense of the word. 

Such a type I met a few years ago at Kostroma 
— a man who had been all through the campaign 
with Koorapatkine. A more manly, modest sol- 
dier I have never seen in any country. Notwith- 
standing the fact that he had gone through the 
most terrible experiences, and had faced death a 
hundred times, he was as simple in his demeanour 
as a child. 

If army service does not improve the con- 
scripts' morals, it certainly improves their wits. In 



36 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

the first years of service they are simply an un- 
reasoning machine, never thinking, but obeying 
every order without judgment. If asked a question, 
the conscript does not reply "I do not know," but 
"I cannot know." If questioned as to his rea- 
son for doing a certain thing, he does not dare to 
state his reason, but simply replies "Prekazano" 
(it is ordered). This slavish and unthinking obe- 
dience to orders often leads to very serious mis- 
takes, and still more frequently to very comical in- 
cidents. The anecdote of Catherine giving an order 
to a soldier to have her dog, Cumberland, stuffed, 
and the soldier almost carrying out the order on the 
person of the English Ambassador, after whom the 
animal had been named, is only one instance of 
what implicit obedience, without thought, may lead 
to. But this quality is best illustrated in the fol- 
lowing anecdote of an incident which is said to have 
actually occurred in a Russian garrison town. 
An officer asked a recruit : — 

"Now what should you do in the event of dis- 
turbances breaking out in this town if you were 
ordered out on duty?" 

"Shoot," was the answer. 

"Very good! But supposing your father and 
mother happened to be among the crowd ?" 



THE PEASANT 37 

"Shoot them all down." 

"Splendid! But tell me now, if you were in 
the open field — in camp, for example — and should 
come across a cow or a calf, what should you 
do?" 

"Shoot them down, your Highness," Ivan re- 
plied, with great gusto. 

"Nonsense! You should take them by the 
horns and lead them to the 'Generalska' " (the 
wife of the General). 

Here followed a momentary pause, and then the 
officer continued : — 

"But if at night time you met His Excellency 
the General himself, a long way from the camp 
in the dark, what would you do?" 

"Shoot him down," 

"Nonsense !" 

Ivan thought deeply for a moment, and then re- 
plied triumphantly: — 

"Well, if I should not be allowed to shoot him 
down, then I ought to take him by the horns and 
lead him to the 'Generalska.' " 

This anecdote may appear far-fetched, but while 
I was staying at the Russian camp of Tsarkoe- 
Seloe, incidents occurred even more incredible. 



IVAN: THE RUSSIAN TOMMY ATKINS 



CHAPTER IV 
IVAN: THE RUSSIAN TOMMY ATKINS 

AS regards physique, the Russian soldier on the 
whole is very fine indeed. I should say that 
on the average he is not so tall as the English 
soldier, but is larger-boned and broader-chested. 
Although he is hardier than the average Britisher, 
he is physically not so strong, energetic or active, 
mainly owing to the wretched quality of the food 
supplied him. Officially, Ivan Ivanovitch is sup- 
posed to get more than most other nations, but in 
practice this does not work out. 

The standard in Russia, as regards height for 
military service, is very low compared with our 
own. It begins at five feet for infantry and five 
feet three inches for cavalry. This is surprising, 
for very many tall men are to be found in Russia, 
especially among the Lithuanians, the Little Rus- 
sians, the Cossacks, the Siberians and the Tartars, 
many of whom are over six feet. But the typical 
Russian, the backbone of the army, as I have before 
observed, is not a tall man; he is of medium size, 

41 



42 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

fleshy and thickly built. When pure and unmixed 
with Tartar blood, he is not unlike many of the men 
I have seen in the north and east of England. In 
some of the northern governments and in the Baltic 
provinces, where there is a strong infusion of Scan- 
dinavian blood, the resemblance to the fair, ruddy 
Englishman of the east coast is still more striking. 
The conquest of the people in the Middle Ages by 
the savage Tartars and Mongols from Asia has, 
however, modified the appearance as well as the 
character of a large section of the population. 
Physical deterioration is particularly observable in 
the great manufacturing centres, where men, liable 
to serve, are frequently rejected. In the country 
districts the proportion of men rejected by the mili- 
tary doctors is, comparatively speaking, very small. 
Other causes of deterioration are the dreadful fam- 
ines and epidemics. The absence of doctors and the 
consequent spread of disease has much to do with 
the impaired physique of a large portion of the 
people. The immoderate use of vodka, a spirit dis- 
tilled from rye, is one cause of the sickness, poverty 
and physical and moral retrogression among the 
peasantry and the soldiers of all classes. On the 
whole, however, the Russians are a strong and hardy 
people, mainly because the conditions of life are so 
severe. 



IVAN : THE RUSSIAN TOMMY ATKINS 43 

As the majority of the peasants are practically 
vegetarians it is not an expensive business to feed 
the Russian army. The soldiers' diet mostly consists 
of cabbage soup, porridge, potatoes, peas, beans, 
good wholesome rye bread, macaroni, garlic, fish, 
lard and various dainties cooked in sunflower seed 
oil. On feast days and holidays they are plentifully 
supplied with vodka, usually at the officers' expense ; 
for like their men the Russian officers are fond of 
liquor and extremely hospitable. As a rule the men 
only have half a pound of meat a day and about 
three pounds of black bread, which is almost as 
nourishing as meat, and, I believe, far more whole- 
some. Moreover, it has been observed that men who 
are moderate consumers of meat and vodka recover 
from their wounds sooner than those who eat much 
flesh. One of the great faults of the Russian army 
is its poorly managed commissariat, which during 
the Turkish and Russo-Japanese wars caused the 
loss of many thousands of men. Soldiers who re- 
turned from this war state that they had to subsist 
on maggoty biscuits and beans, whilst thousands of 
horses died for want of provender. After the war 
was over there was a good deal of hanging of un- 
fortunate Jewish contractors, but the greater cul- 
prits were allowed to go free. So long as the Rus- 
sian Government persists in the questionable prac- 



44 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

tice of paying its officials and public servants about 
half the wages due to them this evil will never be 
eradicated. It is gratifying to know that every year 
as the people become more enlightened the taking of 
bribes is becoming more rare. 

The pay of officers usually averages from £3 to 
£10 a month, according to the standing of the regi- 
ment. The salary of a general is not extravagant, 
and varies from £300 to £500 a year. In order to 
lessen the expenditure incurred in keeping up their 
households every officer is permitted to keep one or 
more djenshiks. (A djenshik is a soldier who 
serves his superior officer, without pay, in return for 
his board and lodging.) The majority of Russian 
officers are very generous to their servants, generally 
giving them pocket money and presents. As a rule 
the men prefer to serve their officers, particularly 
when the latter are popular. It relieves them from 
the trying and monotonous duty of living in bar- 
racks and eating soldiers' fare, which although 
plentiful and nourishing is very rough and simple. 

Under the influence of his superior officer, the 
djenshik often becomes more refined than his com- 
panions, and acquires a taste for reading and the 
pleasures of life. In his dress and habits he be- 
comes clean and neat, and gains some knowledge 
of town life and foreign countries which he relates 



IVAN : THE RUSSIAN TOMMY ATKINS 45 

to an astonished village on his return. As a rule 
the relations between officers and their subordinates 
are quite paternal; and an officer when addressing 
a soldier calls him "little brother," "friend," "little 
pigeon," and the soldier in return calls his com- 
manding officer "little father" or "brother." 

Russian officers of all ranks are far more sociable 
and less reserved than those of other nations. In 
fact I have frequently seen a simple soldier approach 
a Colonel or General and ask him for a light or some 
small favour as a matter of course. The soldiers 
have even nicknames for their favourite officers, 
whom they regard as friends, advisers and in loco 
parentis. 

An officer is supposed to know everybody and 
to be a kind of walking encyclopaedia or "Enquire 
Within" for everything, very similar to our old 
country parsons. If a soldier's wife has twins, if 
the mare has foaled, or if the children have the 
measles the officer is consulted in all seriousness 
and his advice is taken, although he may be as 
ignorant as the soldier who consults him regarding 
the happy or unfortunate occurrence. Officers fre- 
quently laugh and joke with their men and call 
them molodme (bucks) and tovoratza (comrades). 
The simple Russian private would never dream of 
taking a liberty or being unduly familiar in return 



46 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

for this friendliness ; for an officer is always an 
officer in the eyes of the soldier; also a barm (gen- 
tleman), whether familiar, intoxicated or sober. 
The officer is ohrasovanne (educated), a man of 
culture, while the private himself is negramotne 
(not educated, ignorant of the art of reading and 
writing). In the Russian army and also in the 
Russian classes generally all men are brothers in a 
different way from that in which any other country 
regards its people. When duty and work are over 
social and class distinctions are allowed to sink 
into the background for the time being. 

These peculiar patriarchal relations between of- 
ficers and men are admirably exemplified by 
the following incident which was related to me 
during the siege of Plevna when I happened to 
be in Russia. After losing at the rate of 16,000 
men a day in storming the almost impregnable posi- 
tion of the Turks, some of the soldiers of the guards 
began to be slack in advancing to the attack, which 
meant certain death to other thousands. An officer 
of the guards observing this hesitation among his 
men, galloped up to his regiment, and thus ad- 
dressed them : "Shame on you, lads. What have 
you to lose in comparison with me? You will lose 
your black bread, cabbage and chlopee (bugs), 
whereas I have a beautiful wife, children, money, 



IVAN : THE RUSSIAN TOMMY ATKINS 47 

houses and a palace. Then follow me, lads, do not 
fear the Turks." This rough exhortation pleased 
the soldiers; again they rushed to the attack with 
their brave officer and did not stop until they had 
taken the redoubts. 

The majority of the soldiers are unmarried, as 
early marriages are not encouraged by the authori- 
ties. During the term of service the soldier has to 
take his place in the line. But the paterfamilias, 
the head of every peasant household, frequently 
compels his young sons to marry the strongest and 
most buxom village lasses he can find ; for strength 
and a capacity for hard work are the qualities 
chiefly sought by the father in choosing a helpmate 
for his sons. The latter are not consulted in the 
least; young men are not considered capable of 
selecting a suitable wife. During the son's absence, 
the "soldatka"^ — the soldier's wife — often has a 
very hard time of it with her father-in-law. And 
there is another point : as the Russian peasant- 
woman is amative and not over-chaste, it not infre- 
quently happens that there is an addition to the fam- 
ily during the husband's term of service. If the 
little stranger is a boy, all goes well; it does not 
matter; for the more boys there are the more land 
there will be for each household when the com- 
munal property is redistributed. But if the new 



48 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

arrival is a girl, there is trouble, for girls are not 
wanted. The land is distributed according to the 
number of souls, and as women are supposed to 
have only "vapour" (par) and not a soul, and 
can neither do a man's work in the fields nor serve 
in the army, no share is allotted to them. Gener- 
ally, however, the husband is forgiving and good- 
natured, and makes every allowance for the frailty 
of his women-folk, saying in effect, "Why should 
I be so hard on a weak woman?" 

The Cossacks, who have Tartar, Turk, and Gothic 
blood in their veins, are not so easy-going, if I can 
credit some anecdotes I heard concerning their treat- 
ment of women after the last Turkish war. The 
Russian soldier is simply a "child of nature," as a 
Russian General of my acquaintance remarked. He 
is easily amused, and easily satisfied, for his-wants 
have been reduced to the minimum. Give him a few 
ounces of "machorka" — a coarse black tobacco 
grown in Little Russia — a concertina, an old news- 
paper to use as cigarette-paper, and he is as happy 
as a king. If you can add to these luxuries a small 
bottle of vodka (a "Witotchka," so named jokingly 
after the Minister of Finance who first ordered vodka 
to be sold in these small bottles), costing fivepence, 
he is then supremely favoured. Inspired by the 
fiery spirit, his own spirits rise in proportion, and 



IVAN : THE RUSSIAN TOMMY ATKINS 49 

he shows his overpowering dehght in dancing fast 
and furiously, certainly with more ability than 
grace, the "Kamarinska" or some other favourite 
measure. He is passionately fond of singing, and 
spends long hours alone composing and improvising 
plaintive songs in praise of his sweetheart, his vil- 
lage, his horse, or even his favourite general if he 
has one. Wherever I have wandered through the 
Russian Empire I have met the sturdy, grey-coated 
fellows marching and singing — in the steep rocky 
defiles of the Caucasus, on the long steppes of Little 
Russia, on the banks of the Volga, in the camp at 
Krasno Selo, Finland, or in barracks at Cronstadt 
or Petersburg. Singing in the ranks is held to be 
of great importance, and is encouraged by the 
officers. 

The chief singer, who marches in front of each 
company and gives the opening lines of the verses, 
receives extra pay and many marks of favour. Gen- 
eral Annenkoff once said to me, "The soldier who 
sings marches on to victory." Some of the melo- 
dies are sad, of others the words are "risky" ; but 
many, especially among the Cossacks, are full of life 
and vigour. Without vodka, music, song and dance, 
and frequent "prasniks" (holidays), the existence 
of a soldier would be unbearable; for what with 
hard toil, constant drill, poor pay and not over- 



50 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

pleasant food he has usually not a good time of it 
in barracks, unless he can get private work. 

When well treated, the men are exceedingly at- 
tached to their officers, and no sacrifice is too great 
for them. They set little value on their own lives 
or on anybody else's when it is a question of duty 
or of fighting. "Shezn Copjeka" — "Life is a farth- 
ing," is one of their favourite proverbs. Their re- 
ligious character is seen in conflict, for they look on 
a battle not as a sanguinary fight, but as the defence 
of their faith. Tsar, and country. In the brave 
struggle of the "Varjag" against unecjual odds at 
Chemulpoo the Russian sailors, according to the evi- 
dence of their confessor, all through that terrible 
encounter, whilst working the guns, continually 
prayed to their Saviour and all the Saints, believing 
that aid would thus come to them against the unbe- 
lieving Japanese. 

The average Russian, even of the lower classes, 
is extremely fond of his native country (matooshka 
Rossi ja) — our little Mother Russia — as he calls 
her, although she is frequently a very severe parent 
to him. He despises and pities the Njemt::ee (the 
Dumbones), a term by which he implies all foreign- 
ers who cannot speak his difficult tongue. "What 
is life to a Russian is death to a foreigner" is a 
saying continually on his lips, and rightly too ; for, 



IVAN : THE RUSSIAN TOMMY ATKINS 51 

without complaint, he can stand greater cold, more 
intense heat, keener hunger and privation than any- 
other European. His powers of endurance are 
marvellous; I have often seen Ivan asleep in the 
snow in winter-time or stretched out snoring on the 
wet and sodden grass in the autumn. These expe- 
riences seem to do him no harm whatever. Every 
Saturday he goes regularly to the banja and there 
scrubs and boils himself until he is as red as a lob- 
ster and every trace of cold has been driven out of 
his system. The heat in these banjas is terrific, and 
woe to the Njcmt::ee, or foreigner, who tries them 
if he has not been gifted with a strong heart and a 
tough skin. 

In the country districts, where the people are 
veritable "Adam's children," as a Russian officer 
described them, it is their great pleasure to heat the 
banja like a furnace and then rush out in a nude 
condition, rolling themselves in the rough snow, 
even when the temperature is fifteen to twenty 
degrees below zero. When there is no snow 
handy, they break a hole in the ice of the 
nearest river, which is frequently two or three feet 
thick, and have a dip. They then hurry back to the 
warm and comfortable banja to restore their circu- 
lation. 

Truly what is life to a Russian is death to a 



52 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

foreigner, and the ordinary conditions of service 
in time of war, except the actual fighting, are really 
not more arduous than the ordinary life of the Rus- 
sian in his home. 

Although the relations between officers and men 
are exceedingly democratic, discipline is most 
severe; grave infringement of the vocnoi oostav 
(military code) is visited with death. But, as I 
have said before, human life is valued lightly in 
this country, especially among the peasantry, and 
execution does not appear so horrible and cruel to 
them as it would to us. 

When one calls to mind the extreme severity of 
the military code under Nicholas I, Peter the Great 
and Catherine II, the stringent regulations now in 
force in the Russian Army appear quite mild com- 
pared with those in the "good old times" about 
which people are so fond of prating. Beating or 
cuffing the soldiers is strictly forbidden, although 
this regulation is sometimes overlooked by the 
sergeants. 

When we take into consideration the inexhaustible 
resources in men, money and material which are at 
the disposal of the Russian Government it is diffi- 
cult not to believe that Russia will emerge victorious 
from this terrible racial and political struggle against 
the combined forces of Austria and Germany, pro- 



IVAN : THE RUSSIAN TOMMY ATKINS 53 

vided that her officers and generals are on a hne 
with her brave and hardy soldiers, and that the 
alien races subject to her sway remain loyal during 
the war. 



UNIFORM, ARMS, AND ARTILLERY 



CHAPTER V 
UNIFORM, ARMS, AND ARTILLERY 

THE uniform of the majority of the soldiers of 
the line is simple in the extreme. It has, 
however, been found so practical that many of our 
own troops are equipped with an outfit which is 
strikingly like that worn by the Russian infantry; 
the cap is the same in shape, and there is a strange 
resemblance between the grey overcoats worn by 
the soldiers of both nations. The uniform is warm, 
strong, and exceedingly cheap. All unnecessary 
ornament is dispensed with. The rough grey coats 
and the strong, waterproof topboots, the latter fre- 
quently made by the soldiers themselves, give the 
men a very attractive and business-like appearance. 
In the summer the men wear clean, white linen 
blouses which are not only cheap but very service- 
able. 

The infantry are armed with what they call a 
"3 line" rifle, which I believe is a modification of 
the Krag Jorgan weapon, dating from 1891. It is 
sighted to 3000 paces, but I am informed that it 

57 



58 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

will kill at a distance of two miles. This weapon 
is simple in construction and exceedingly accurate.^ 
A Russian officer told me that it has such penetrat- 
ing power that he has known a bullet fired from 
it to pass through a thick tree and kill a fowl 
on the other side. The army rifle holds five cart- 
ridges, which can be fired singly or in rapid suc- 
cession. During the last Japanese War a consider- 
able portion of the forces were armed with O.F. 
Field Guns (1902 model), which fired a 13^ lb. 
shell with a muzzle velocity of 1950 feet a second. 
Owing to the defects of the artillery in the Japanese 
War Russia sustained very severe losses. When I 

^ The new warfare is with rifles with twice as much 
muzzle velocity, and the bullets, hardly thicker than a 
lead pencil, are jacketed with steel or nickel. A man 
might be shot clean through the abdomen and walk to 
the hospital in the rear of the battlefield. Such cases are 
on record. At the range of action under modern condi- 
tions the bullets from high-powered rifles make a clean- 
cut wound, frequently passing through bone without 
splintering and pushing aside arteries without cutting 
them. 

Great Britain uses the Lee-Enfield rifle, caliber "j."] mm., 
the bullet coated with cupro-nickel. French soldiers are 
equipped with the Lebel rifle, caliber 8 mm., with bullets 
coated with nickel. Germany employs the Mauser rifle, 
caliber 8 mm., with bullets steel and copper coated, 
Russia uses Mossin-Nagant rifles, caliber 7.62 mm., with 
bullets cupro-nickel coated. Austria's small arm is the 
Mannlicher, caliber 8 mm., with a steel sheet coat over 
the bullet. 



UNIFORM, ARMS, AND ARTILLERY 59 

was last at Krasno Selo, only a few batteries of the 
new 15-pounder quick-firers (Schneider-Creuzot) 
had arrived from France, and the army was using 
the old Krupp guns. The men had, in fact, hardly 
had time to become proficient with the new weapon 
when the war broke out, which partly explains the 
terrible losses among the artillery at the Yalu and 
in other battles, where the Russian guns were com- 
pletely demolished by the terrible fire of the Japa- 
nese. Since then the Army has been supplied with 
modern quick-firing guns constructed according to 
the latest French models. This should put them 
on an equal footing with the Germans. Many of 
their regiments have also been supplied with a new 
rifle. This is also believed to be equal in every 
way to that of the Germans. 

The rifle, however, is not the favourite weapon 
of the Russian soldier; he still pins his faith to the 
bayonet, therefore getting at close cjuarters with his 
opponent whenever possible. Being heavy and mus- 
cular in build, and almost without nerves, he can 
use this weapon with shocking effect. During the 
storming of Port Arthur the brave Japanese were 
driven back time after time at the point of the bayo- 
net. It is said that they lost about 80,000 men in 
endeavouring to take this fortress. According to 
the Army reports 80 per cent of the Japanese casu- 



6o THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

alties were caused by the bayonet charges ; 20 per 
cent by sliot and shell. Even in the days of Souvo- 
roff, Catherine's great general, the soldiers fre- 
quently forgot to use their rifles in their anxiety to 
come to close quarters with the enemy. Souvoroff 
himself believed in the bayonet above any other 
weapon, and used to say to his men : "Pulja doorak 
no shtyck molodets" (the bullet is a fool, but the 
bayonet is a brick). 

So far as I am able to judge the Russians, both 
officers and men, are not at all efficient with the 
sword, that most ancient but very effective weapon. 
Perhaps the majority of them are too heavy, short, 
and lethargic to become good swordsmen. The 
Cossacks, however, are very expert with the sword, 
and so are the Poles, who have a more lively tem- 
perament than the average Great Russian. But if 
the soldiers are slow they are sure. It is their stub- 
bornness and their inability to know when they are 
beaten which makes them such formidable oppo- 
nents in a prolonged war. The longer the present 
war lasts the more formidable the Russian soldier 
will become; his patience is marvellous and he has 
no fear of death. As previously stated, he will 
never cease to fight for any cause which appeals 
to his imagination or to his religious fervour. 

These qualities were noticed during the Russo- 



UNIFORM, ARMS, AND ARTILLERY 6i 

Turkish campaign; the cartoons of that day repre- 
sented the soldiers as lions and the officers as asses. 
In the Russo-Japanese War the officers, with some 
few exceptions, did not particularly distinguish 
themselves, and had it not been for the indomitable 
bravery of the rank and file the disasters would 
probably have been far greater than they were. 
But the bitter lessons learnt then have not been for- 
gotten, and I am informed, on the authority of 
various military experts, that many useful reforms 
have been carried out in the Army since 1905. 
This year was one of the blackest and saddest of 
Russia's tragic and sanguinary history. 

Under the control of the late Grand Duke Mechail 
the Elder, who was chief of all the artillery, this 
arm numbered 6000 guns of various dimensions. 
The different kinds of ordnance include light ar- 
tillery, mountain guns, horse-artillery, mortars, 
howitzers, and the heavy siege guns, the majority 
of which are constructed at the Oboochoff, Ses- 
toretsk, and Leteinnaja cannon works. Many siege 
guns mounted at Cronstadt and other fortresses 
were made by Krupp of Essen. 

The field artillery (quick-firing guns) which I 
saw when last at Krasno Selo, came as a rule from 
the famous Schneider-Creuzot works in France. 
Nothing better for field work could be designed 



62 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

fhan these improved French quick-firers ; they are 
alleged to be far superior to the cannon turned out 
by Krupp's. It is a question whether the Russians 
possess any siege guns to match those used by the 
Germans against Liege. ^ 

The cavalry are also supplied with machine-guns 
of various makes. An artillery brigade usually con- 
sists of six batteries; a division has three batteries. 
Each battery contains eight 3-inch field guns. The 

^ Re Creuzot-Schneider gun, Major Harry G. Bishop 
writes in his work Elements of Modern Field Artillery: — 

"Other nations began by pooh-poohing this gun — Ger- 
many in the lead — then passed to the state of modifying 
their existing equipment, and ended by throwing it all 
in the scrap-heap and building an artillery equipment on 
the same general lines as the French. This is the present 
rapid-fire gun, which the entire world, including the 
United States, has been forced to adopt, against its will, 
and at an expense of millions of dollars. 

"The guns in use during the Russo-Japanese War by 
both sides, though often spoken of as 'rapid-fire' guns, 
were not the guns above referred to. They were what 
is technically known as 'accelerated fire guns,' a class 
falling between our 3.2 gun of 189S and our present 
true 'rapid-fire gun.' The true rapid-fire gun, therefore, 
received no test in this war. Its first appearance on a 
battlefield of any magratude was in the recent Balkan 
War. Accurate or detailed accounts of its performance 
there are lacking, at the present writing, but it would 
appear from such reports as have been received concern- 
ing it, that this supreme test will not cause any radical 
change in the gun or in the adopted principles of its 
technical and tactical use." 



UNIFORM, ARMS, AND ARTILLERY 63 

horse artillery are usually furnished with six quick- 
firing Schneider-Creuzots of three-inch calibre. 
Owing to her almost inexhaustible supply of horses, 
Russia is able to procure the very finest animals 
for these departments of the Army, and this is as 
well, for the dragging of the heavy guns over every 
kind of ground tests the toughest steed. The horses 
I saw at Krasno Selo were powerful and wiry; 
and one sees how it is that the Russians can bring 
artillery into action so quickly. The Cossack ar- 
tillery particularly impressed me, not only by reason 
of the strength and muscle of the horses, but be- 
cause of the admirable skill and agility of the gun- 
ners themselves when executing a manoeuvre. 

During the evolutions, the courtesy of a Russian 
General enabled me to watch several attacks on 
dummy cavalry by batteries of horse artillery. A 
perfect hail of shrapnel v/as poured on the supposed 
advancing forces; after the firing was over, we 
went down to the plain to examine the dummy 
horsemen. Not a single one was left intact; every 
horse, or its rider, had been struck by fragments 
of flying shrapnel. In actual warfare, if the gun- 
ners had been as cool as they were on this occasion, 
the whole of the attacking squadron would have 
been swept out of existence. 

In the Japanese campaign, though the Russian 



64 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

artillery was handicapped by inferior weapons, the 
men behaved with remarkable heroism. Whole 
batteries were repeatedly devastated before the men 
could find the correct range, yet they still continued 
the unequal contest, often until not a man remained 
to serve the guns. Nimerovitch Dachenko, the cele- 
brated Russian novelist and foreign correspondent, 
thus describes the heroic conduct of the brave fel- 
lows at the front : — 

"On one of the heights the Russian artillery for 
the first time during the present war silenced the 
Japanese guns. Before concentrating on one of the 
chosen positions at Haicheng the Russians chal- 
lenged the Japanese to fight. A hill that had been 
previously fortified was left free. The Japanese, 
thinking it was occupied, for thirteen hours poured 
on its sandy sides a terrible hail of projectiles. At 
five o'clock in the morning they opened fire on the 
hill. For fourteen entire hours the Russian quick- 
firing guns worked without intermission. The con- 
test was horrible. The spectacle was grand, even 
elemental. There were moments when the moun- 
tains themselves seemed to shudder on their rocky 
foundations. The entire valley with its numerous 
valleys, fields, and meadows resounded, lamented, 
and groaned under the hundreds of steel scourges 
that flew over it — the bursting shrapnels. At mid- 



UNIFORM, ARMS, AND ARTILLERY 65 

day two of the Japanese batteries were silenced. We 
could see with our field-glasses how their terrified 
attendants fled from the spot. Towards evening 
a third battery was silenced, and at sunset the Japa- 
nese ran short of ammunition. The wounded on the 
Russian side included General Sheshkoffsky, of the 
artillery, and Pachenko, the commander of a bat- 
tery, 

"The enemy had 24 guns in action. The glory 
of the day belonged to the Barnoul and Tomsk 
troops from Siberia, whilst the commander of the 
Tomsk regiment was wounded. The Siberian troops 
were all the time exposed to the shrapnel fire, and, 
having to withstand a bayonet charge, sustained the 
greatest losses. The eleventh regiment beat off a 
cavalry attack by firing volleys, whilst the remain- 
ing troops received the enemy on their bayonets. 
The Japanese came on to the attack singing and 
shouting 'Nippon Banzai.' " 

The Russian soldier is one of the worst paid in 
Europe; for, strictly speaking, he receives only to- 
bacco money, and no wages. The infantry soldiers 
receive the astounding sum of about gd. a month, 
whilst the sergeant draws about half a crown. No 
wonder the poor fellows sometimes commit suicide 
on this extravagant allowance; for, if they do not 
receive help from home, their four or five years' 



66 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

service is a terrible tax on their fortitude. The 
officers and generals also are, comparatively speak- 
ing, very badly remunerated for their services, and 
how so many of them manage to look so neat in 
their grey coats and black uniforms has always 
been to me a mystery. 

But if Russia, owing to the great number of men 
with the colours, is unable to pay adequate salaries 
to the men who defend the country, we must re- 
member that the Government does not forget the 
well-conducted man, whether he be officer or pri- 
vate, who, after leaving the service, is generally 
sure of a comfortable berth in the post office, cus- 
toms, railways, police, gendarmerie, and thousands 
of other posts at the disposal of the State. Offi- 
cers and generals are made prefects, chiefs of police, 
governors of provinces, cities, or fortresses, or are 
appointed to other important positions of honour 
and trust. As the pay of the officers is inadequate, 
each officer is allowed to take several men from 
his regiment to act as servants. As a rule, these 
posts are coveted; for the djcnshiks, as they are 
called, are better fed than the men in barracks, 
and escape a good deal of drill. So far as I have 
been able to observe, the djenshiks are well treated 
by the officers; but I cannot say the same of the 
"Generalshee" and "Captainshee" (the Madame 



UNIFORM, ARMS, AND ARTILLERY (yy 

Generals and Madame Captains), who are so im- 
pressed with the reflected glory of their husbands' 
dignity that they show their own power by half 
worrying the poor fellows to death. But there is 
one consolation; not every general has a "General- 
shee" to assist him in maintaining the dignity of 
his position. 

The maintenance and cost to the crown of a 
Russian private generally amounts to only about 
i^iJ a year, which is not surprising, considering 
that he practically receives no wages. 

Since the last war, the pay in some regiments 
has been increased; but on the whole we must ad- 
mit that the remuneration a Russian soldier re- 
ceives is very poor indeed compared with that of 
an English private. Nor has he any clubs, music- 
halls, billiard saloons, or the numerous recreations 
and amusements that are open to our own soldiers 
when they have a little money in their pockets. He 
is permitted, however, to dispose of his labour out- 
side the army, and many of the soldiers add con- 
siderably to their wages by working at the harvest, 
by loading or unloading ships and barges, and by 
doing other heavy work when strong muscles are 
needed. 



THE JAPANESE WAR AND ITS LESSONS 



CHAPTER VI 
THE JAPANESE WAR AND ITS LESSONS 

IT would be unjust, and a fatal mistake, to judge 
the Russian Army or its resources by what hap- 
pened in the Russo-Japanese War. At that time 
Russia was fighting a powerful, up-to-date army 
organised on the German model, and a first-class 
navy, and was engaged 6000 miles away from home. 
Moreover, all the time this life-and-death struggle 
went on, she was occupied in stamping out the revo- 
lutionary movement among her own subjects. Be- 
ing forced to wage two wars simultaneously, she 
was compelled to keep her finest troops, the regulars 
and the regiments of guards, in Europe, while she 
employed the less efficient and unsuitable reservists, 
Cossacks, and Siberian irregulars, against the highly 
drilled ranks of the Japanese. That she met disas- 
ter is not to be wondered at; but that she was able 
to carry on these two conflicts, one on the shores 
of the Baltic, the other on the coasts of the Pacific, 
is indeed astonishing. Probably never before in the 
world's history were battles in progress at such a 

71 



^2 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

distance from the sources of supply and under such 
disheartening difficulties. It was impossible to send 
the forces by sea ; men, ammunition, cannon, stores, 
and all material, had to be conveyed across the wide 
expanse of Asia. Despite these obstacles, the Gov- 
ernment managed to send about 860,000 men to 
Manchuria and to keep this enormous army en route, 
although the temperature frequently fell far below 
zero, and the permanent way was continually being 
destroyed by the Japanese and robber Hun-hoos, 
and by the revolutionists at home, who were heart 
and soul opposed to the war, and anxious at all 
costs to overthrow the existing dynasty. 

Russia then had all the odds against her; now, 
however, the majority of the factors are in her 
favour. The vyar against the Germans is popular 
with almost every class, from prince to peasant, for 
the Germans, during the last two hundred years, 
have monopolised many of the best places in the 
administrative departments, and in various spheres 
of industry and commerce have succeeded in mak- 
ing themselves intensely disliked — even more so 
than they are in England. They have been, in fact, 
the schoolmasters of the Russian people. They have 
had much to do with beating them into shape, but 
in the process have unfortunately made a most un- 
favourable impression. "Suaviter in modo, fortiter 



JAPANESE WAR AND ITS LESSONS 73 

in re" has not been the motto of the German peda- 
gogues, bureaucrats, merchants, and pioneers of in- 
dustry in Russia; thus the people, instead of being 
grateful to the Germans for benefits undoubtedly- 
obtained, are, on the contrary, exceedingly bitter 
against their one-time tutors. In fact, throughout 
the world the Germans, notwithstanding their many 
good qualities and virtues, seem to have evinced a 
talent for rousing the dislike of all among whom 
they reside. There also exists a deep racial hatred 
between the Slavonic and Germanic peoples, of the 
intensity of which most travellers have no real con- 
ception. 

In considering the present conflict, we must re- 
member that it is being fought not thousands of 
miles away in the Far East, but at Russia's very 
gates, and with an army backed by a people longing 
to pay off old scores. This being the case, Russia's 
chances of success are enormously greater than they 
were in the previous campaign, when she gave no 
idea of what she could accomplish in more favour- 
able circumstances. The peasantry then had never 
heard of the strange, distant nation, and could not 
understand in the least what the war was about. 
Of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, and the un- 
believing Turks they had some sort of notion, but 
they knew no more about the Japs than we do of 



74 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

the inhabitants of Mars, and villagers became sorely- 
perplexed to explain the enmity of these terrible 
"little yellow men." They were not particularly 
accurate in their ideas of the English, having been 
told that we "lived on an island, had many wives, 
and were of the same faith as the Turks" ; but with 
the Japanese they were still farther afield. Many 
were the sage confabulations held in tiny hamlets 
and in village councils, or in the "trakters" (tea- 
houses), on the theme of this race so deadly to Holy 
Russia. Some of the wiseacres, to air their superior 
knowledge, gravely alleged that the little men were 
skilled in magical arts and witchcraft ; others averred 
that the Japanese were monkeys, not men at all, and 
that they fought with the help of a dragon which 
breathed forth fire and flame, killing all who came 
near with its deadly emanations. The officers, who 
knew everything, had a magic word, which they had 
only to repeat a few times for the dragon to lose his 
powers and expire. Such were some of the stories 
spread round the villages by the credulous peasants, 
who later on paid a terrible price for their ignorance. 
The officers in that war learnt the salutary lesson 
never to despise an opponent. On the outbreak of 
hostilities, they not only made light of their diminu- 
tive enemies, but boasted to General Koorapatkine, 
their commander-in-chief, that they had only to 



JAPANESE WAR AND ITS LESSONS 75 

throw up their caps and the Japanese would instantly 
take to flight. On hearing this braggadocio, the 
General ironically requested his young enthusiasts 
to order several hundred thousand of these wonder- 
ful caps, for he had just returned from Japan, and 
had come to the conclusion that they would be sorely 
needed ! Later on, General Rennenkampf came into 
conflict with the yellow men, and found that they 
were terrible little Prussians, who did everything 
by rule of three, and could render an excellent ac- 
count of themselves. This last war undoubtedly 
sobered the Russians, and although they and their 
allies are numerically superior to the Germans and 
Austrians, previous misfortunes have enlightened 
them, and they are now marching onward, fully 
conscious of the serious nature of the task before 
them. 

Were Russia a highly organised, compact State 
like Germany, its people could easily overrun the 
rest of Europe; but the very unwieldiness of the 
colossal Empire is an element of weakness. Another 
vulnerable point is the Slavonic hatred of order 
and discipline, qualities which in military matters 
are, of course, of the first importance. The Slavs 
have always been inclined to anarchy, and have a 
contempt for what the Germans term "ordnung." 
But good soldiers learn from defeat, and the bitter 



76 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

lessons of the Japanese War have not been lost. 
One of the main reasons for Russia's debacle was 
her unreadiness for war ; her antagonists were more 
than ready, as they had prepared secretly for the 
struggle during ten years. Even the very battle- 
fields had been marked by the painstaking Japanese 
with the correct distances between various points of 
importance duly noted, so that a smart and accurate 
fire could be opened immediately the guns came into 
action. 

For months prior to the outbreak, Port Arthur, 
Petersburg, Cronstadt, Vladivostock, and other 
cities teemed with Japanese spies, disguised as cooks, 
barbers, merchants, agents, sellers of bric-a-brac, 
and so on. They had learnt their lesson well from 
the Germans, and even bettered their instructors. 
The unfortunate Russians were completely taken 
by surprise ; as a Russian lady exclaimed to me : 
''They know not how to fight the terrible little yel- 
low men — all they know is how to die!" And die 
the poor soldiers did, with that stoicism, bravery, 
and resignation so peculiar to the race. 

Thousands perished even on the way to the East, 
worn out by fatigue and want of food, without 
counting the thousands killed in battle. At Laojan, 
the total Russian losses were 100,000, of whom 
40,000 were taken prisoner. The battle of Mukden, 



JAPANESE WAR AND ITS LESSONS 'jy 

according to Belgian military records, was one of 
the most sanguinary in modern history. In the 
battle of Leipzig, which lasted from the i6th to the 
1 8th of October, 1813, 460,000 men took part, and 
the losses in killed and wounded amounted to 92,- 
000. In the battles round Metz, from the i6th to 
the 1 8th of August, 1870, 343,000 combatants were 
engaged, of whom 74,000 were put out of action. 
But in the great struggle of Mukden, in which 
Koorapatkine came to grief owing to entrusting the 
command to an incompetent general, 610,000 men 
were engaged, of whom 116,000 were killed and' 
wounded. 

Koorapatkine, in his work, endeavours to excul- 
pate himself from the charge of incompetence. 
Whether he was to blame or not, we must not for- 
get that his troops made a gallant defence, and sus- 
tained losses which few other nations could stand 
without complete demoralisation. As an example, 
I may mention that of 63 officers of the First Si- 
berian Sharpshooters only three were left alive; 
of the 3000 soldiers comprising the regiment, only 
150 survived. As in the present war, whole divi- 
sions were decimated by the terrible fire and on- 
slaught of the enemy. Among the chief sufferers 
was the Dorpat or Jurieff Regiment, which after 
this, its first encounter with the foe, had only two 



78 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

officers imwounded out of 79, and only 619 privates 
left from its full strength of 4000 men — the usual 
complement of a Russian regiment. 

Some of the officers so far forgot their duty as 
to remain in Mukden, spending their time in enjoy- 
ment while the men fought for life; for this they 
paid dearly later on. Mischievous and frivolous 
women, who had joined the army on the pretence 
of attending to the wounded, also had much to do 
with the misfortunes, for which many an innocent 
paid with his life. The women who had caused 
the officers to neglect duty were unhappily not made 
examples of, with disastrous results to the morale of 
the troops. In the present war there is reason to 
believe that women will not be permitted to play such 
a pernicious part, the more so as Lord Kitchener 
does not hold with petticoat government. The class 
of women who will be allowed to accompany our 
forces will probably be as much an honour to their 
sex as those of Mukden were a disgrace to it. 

The soldiers were so embittered against their 
officers that they shot several in the heat of battle 
when it was difficult to know by whom the shots 
were fired. "We have killed many," said a veteran 
to me, "and we will shoot more if it occurs again!" 

A Prussian officer, whilst condemning Koora- 
patkine, does not cease to be human ; his remarks, 



JAPANESE WAR AND ITS LESSONS 79 

therefore, are particularly interesting at the present 
moment. "A man bowed down by misfortune, 
Koorapatkine now stands before us after the defeat 
which he suffered in his position at Mukden. In 
spite of the fact that the position was quite unsuit- 
able he stuck to it with fatal obstinacy to the last 
minute. It is only due to the brilliant military 
genius of Linevitch ^ that Russia has at the present 
moment any army at all in the Far East; this w411 
form the nucleus of a new army if the Japanese 
give their opponents sufficient time. But to what 
extent shall we acquit Koorapatkine of blame? I 
think that this all depends on the degree to which 
he was allowed freedom of action. I am person- 
ally of opinion that at Mukden, as well as at Lao- 
jan, Koorapatkine acted under pressure from St. 
Petersburg. It is almost confirmed that after 
Laojan the defence of Mukden was imposed upon 
him as a duty in order that the loss of the old 
Manchurian capital should not damage Russian 
prestige. From the reports and data - to hand con- 
cerning the battle of Mukden, it is evident that he 
was the victim of a fatal interference. On the 22nd 
of February the Commander-in-Chief gave the or- 

^ Linevitch : "The old grey wolf of Manchuria," as the 
soldiers lovingly called him, did form a new army. 

* "Frankfurter Zeitung." 



8o THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

der to send heavy cannon to Tiding, thus showing 
that he considered it impossible to hold his posi- 
tion; but instead of returning with his entire army 
after the artillery he remained two days in his old 
position, thus giving the enemy an opportunity 
of uniting forces and inflicting punishment on 
the right and left flanks by means of a turning 
movement. This caused the Russians terrible 
losses on the western flank whilst retreating to 
Tiding. How shall we explain this delay? If it 
did not take place through interference from St. 
Petersburg, then we may reasonably suppose that 
Koorapatkine lost his head ; but this I consider com- 
pletely impossible, the more so because the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, at the very last moment, insti- 
tuted a counter-attack against the Japanese left 
flank, thus risking being taken prisoner. Such a 
bold step could not be taken by a man who had lost 
his head. I am therefore of the opinion that events 
did not happen in this manner without instruc- 
tions from St. Petersburg. Of course, we should 
know the truth about everything if the diary of 
Koorapatkine appeared in the Press, but in every 
case the responsibility falls entirely upon those who 
insisted upon his preserving the -positions at Muk- 
den." 

We must also remember that Koorapatkine was 



JAPANESE WAR AND ITS LESSONS 8i 

not allowed to carry out his own plan of campaign, 
but was sent to relieve Port Arthur, although that 
was an impossibility, owing to its being so strongly 
invested. Just as the Russian fleet was sacrificed 
at Tchushima to appease popular clamour for ac- 
tion, Koorapatkine was forced into attempting what 
was impossible. 

Another cause of much fatal blundering was the 
want of maps. When the war began, Russian 
troops had to enter Manchuria without these abso- 
lutely necessary details of a campaign in a strange 
country. Complaints were immediately made to St. 
Petersburg about this oversight, and General Po- 
niaffsky predicted that this negligence would spell 
disaster. The General's fears proved only too true, 
and many a valuable life was lost unnecessarily, 
especially during the artillery contests, which were 
carried on by the Russian gunners ignorant of the 
actual range and with inferior ordnance. 

On the other hand, the opponents had splendid 
maps. Each soldier was supplied with one on which 
probable battle grounds were carefully marked, and 
even the range between the different points ac- 
curately calculated. This foresight was invaluable, 
for when the fighting opened at Laojan, the Yalu, 
and other places time was not wasted in finding the 
range ; it was there in plain figures before their eyes. 



82 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

But all these disadvantages and terrible losses did 
not discourage the Russians. Had they been al- 
lowed to continue the campaign with the brave old 
Linevitch, who had encamped at Tiding with a 
fresh army, composed of guards and regulars, Rus- 
sia w^ould probably have won in this struggle against 
the Japs, just as she did in the long contest with 
Napoleon. 

An unknown historian has pointed out with truth 
that Russia, during the whole course of her his- 
tory, has hardly ever waged a war cjuicker or fin- 
ished one with such a success as the Franco-Prussian 
War. During the reign of Peter the Great, she 
began the Northern War disastrously at Narva. 
Yet, although signally defeated by a vastly inferior 
force of Swedes, she continued for twenty-one 
years and did not finish until she was completely 
victorious, and Sweden was utterly exhausted. 

With Napoleon the Russians carried on war for 
ten years, beginning by their crushing defeat at 
Austerlitz and terminating with the capture of Paris 
and the downfall of Napoleon. In 1878 they suf- 
fered three defeats at Plevna, but thanks to the 
guards and the regular troops, which were not used 
in the Japanese struggle, they were finally victori- 
ous and were able to sign a treaty of peace at Con- 
stantinople. Russia has always paid very dearly 



JAPANESE WAR AND ITS LESSONS 83 

in the beginning of a campaign for her unreadiness, 
but in the end she has won, thanks to her extraordi- 
nary obstinacy in carrying on a losing war and her 
power to suffer amazing loss of life and property 
without losing heart. That the average Russian 
is a fatalist like the Turk, and that he considers 
that everything that happens, good and bad, as 
the will of God, is an immense help and source of 
comfort to him when surrounded by enemies and 
discouraged by defeat. 

The remarkable quality of Russian endurance 
was also shown at Borodino, where the troops, al- 
though attacked by the finest forces of Napoleon, 
held their ground with such tenacity that Napoleon 
had to confess that a few more such victories of 
this Pyrrhic character would mean his complete un- 
doing. In the sanguinary struggle which is graphi- 
cally described in Tolstoi's "Peace and War" the 
Russians lost 38,000 men out of a total force of 
110,000.^ In the defence of Sevastopol, which held 
out for over a year, it is estimated that their losses 
were not fewer than 100,000 men. In all their cam- 
paigns we see the same indomitable spirit in the 

* Note on the Battle of Borodino : La parte fut excessive 
de part et d'autre; elle peut etre evaluee a 28,000 francaise 
et 50,000 Russes. (Campaigne de Russie en 1812, par M. 
Le Due de Fezensac.) 



84 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

grey-coated soldiers, who know how to die on the 
field of battle, even if they do not always know 
how to conquer. It is this self-sacrificing spirit 
more than anything else that has been the making 
of the empire: the willingness to die for an idea, 
whether it be for the Tsar, the Orthodox Church 
or the country. We see the same spirit in the revo- 
lutionists : a readiness to offer everything, even life 
itself, for an idea on which they choose to set their 
minds. This capacity to suffer for an ideal is pecu- 
liarly Russian, and in the near future is sure to have 
a great influence on the destinies of Europe. 

One of our greatest ambassadors. Sir Robert 
Morier, once publicly thanked God for giving the 
Russian people kind hearts. Let us hope that his 
estimate of them will prove true of their soldiers; 
for the fate of Europe depends largely upon the 
simple moujik. 



THE COSSACKS 



CHAPTER VII 
THE COSSACKS 

THE Cossacks undoubtedly are the most noted 
soldiers of the Russian Army. This enor- 
mous living rampart protects the frontiers of Russia 
from the shores of the Don to the Pacific Ocean; 
all through the enormous stretch of territory o£ 
South Russia, the Caucasus, Persia, Turkestan, 
Siberia and along the distant shores of the Pacific 
will always be found the Cossack, ever on the alert, 
looking after the interests of his "Little Mother" 
(Holy Russia), as he calls her. 

In the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
turies the Cossacks had their own states or republics 
and were governed by a Hetman or military gover- 
nor elected by the people. Their principal settle- 
ments were on the banks of the Don and the Donetz, 
where they formed a series of powerful independent 
groups, organised on the miost democratic basis 
possible. Their whole form of government was 
very similar to that of the ancient and famous 
republics of Novgorod the Great, Tver, Pskoff, 

8Z 



88 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

Yaroslaff and Suzdal. They spent most of their 
time in freebooting or in waging war against other 
states around them. Many times it was against the 
"infidel" Crimean Tartars (Basurmen), whom it 
was actually a virtue to kill and plunder; at others 
the cruel Poles (the Catholics) were the objects 
of their raids, while the autocratic Grand Duchy of 
Muscovy and the Turks also knew what it was to 
encounter these terrible warriors. Sometimes, how- 
ever, they would join with the Turks and fight the 
Muscovites, or, if the pay was good and there were 
chances of plenty of plunder they have been known 
to throw in their lot with the Tartars. In fact, so 
long as there was stirring adventure to be had and 
good booty to be gained the true Cossack of the past 
did not particularly mind with whom he fought, or 
against whom he turned his arms. 

In the days of their greatest power it is said that 
they could muster about 300,000 horsemen, the ma- 
jority of whom were free men and freeholders. 
Our old English yeomen who turned out in their 
thousands to assist John Hampden and the Parlia- 
ment at a moment's notice are the nearest approach 
I know to the Cossacks, who might also be compared 
to the freebooters of the border. 

The Cossacks at last became so powerful, that it 
was necessary for the Government of Muscovy to 



THE COSSACKS 89 

undertake a series of energetic wars against them, 
during which their celebrated leaders, Stenker- 
Rjazin, Pugacheff and others fought furiously in 
trying to overthrow the "hated goats," ^ as they 
called the Muscovites. More than once they very 
nearly succeeded in defeating their assailants, and 
thus upsetting the whole state and fabric of Russia. 
"Land, Liberty and the Old Faith" was their motto, 
and with this cry they assembled in their thousands 
and tens of thousands on the banks of the Volga 
and compelled Catherine II more than once to send 
the Imperial Russian army against them. Often 
the Russians were defeated, until at last, one after 
another, the Cossack leaders were betrayed and 
brought to Moscow, where they were usually 
hanged, drawn and quartered; thus, little by little, 
the Cossack power was broken. 

For a long time, however, these warriors re- 
mained so troublesome that the Muscovite Govern- 
ment thought it wise to unite them peacefully with 
Holy Russia under their Hetman, Bogdan Chlemet- 
sky, thereby using their wonderful bravery and en- 
ergy for the expansion and defence of the Russian 
Empire, Ermak, a Cossack freebooter of Avar ori- 
gin, born at Ermakova on the lower Volga, was 

* So called because they wore long beards, while the Cos- 
sacks wore large drooping moustaches. 



90 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

one of the first to offer his services to the Mus- 
covites. In order to propitiate Ivan the Terrible he 
presented to him the enormous continent of Siberia, 
which he, with a handful of daredevils, had wrested 
from the fierce Tartars and Mongols in the days of 
Good Queen Bess. Probably never in the world's 
history has such an expanse of country been con- 
quered by so few invaders. The place is still shown 
where Ermak rode his horse into the blue waters of 
the Pacific. It was a long ride — about 5000 miles — 
from the Volga to the Pacific, but this distance was 
not considered too much for a Cossack. The writer 
himself knew Nicholas Pjeskoff, a Cossack officer, 
who rode all the way from Blagoveshchensk on the 
Amur to the Baltic on a small Cossack pony, a dis- 
tance of 6000 miles. All St. Petersburg was anx- 
ious to see this little man; for Pjeskoff was of small 
stature, and in the depth of the Arctic winter had 
braved the snow-drifts of Siberia, the merciless 
steppes and the Taiga when the temperature was 
frequently 30 and 40 degrees below zero. 

In order to show my appreciation and admiration 
for this modern representative of Ermak or Taras 
Bulba, whose exploit Gogol has immortalised, I 
passed a night in the open near Looga with Tom 
Stevens, the celebrated and plucky correspondent of 
the "New York World," who travelled the wilds of 



THE COSSACKS 91 

Africa for his paper in search of the great explorer 
Stanley, who had disappeared into the forest depths 
of the Dark Continent. 

The women, as well as the men, are first-class 
riders — veritable Amazons like their Scythian and 
Sarmatian ancestors. 

It would take too long to describe the wonderful 
deeds which have been accomplished by these men 
from time to time. Volumes might be written of 
the feats accomplished under Ermak, their fearless, 
hardy leader — deeds rivalling in interest those re- 
lated by Fenimore Cooper of the Indians. How- 
ever, I have said quite enough to show of what 
metal the Cossacks are made, and what they can 
accomplish when called upon. In the last war they 
were of incalculable value in keeping open and de- 
fending the long line of communication in the Far 
East. In fact, they were so useful that had it not 
been for them, the war with the Japanese could 
never have been waged at all. It was the Cossacks 
who guarded the East Siberian and Manchurian 
railways, a distance of 2000 miles. They prevented 
the line from being blown up by the Japanese and 
the Hun-hoos, as the Mongolian bandits are called 
in the Far East. 

Of all the Cossacks, the Siberian Cossack is prob- 
ably the hardiest and strongest. Many of these are 



92 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

veritable giants in comparison with the dwellers 
in the towns, and are of enonnous strength. Some 
of them are descendants of the very Cossacks 
who in the days of Elizabeth followed Ermak 
through Siberia, never halting until they had 
reached the shores of the Pacific. During the wars 
of Napoleon the Cossacks played a great part, con- 
tributing more than any other body of men to the 
cutting up and destroying of the army of the great 
general, especially in the disastrous retreat from 
Moscow. It was the Cossacks who converted the 
retreat into a rout by cutting off all stragglers, at- 
tacking the weary soldiers night and day, never 
giving them time to rest or to regain their scattered 
battalions. Had it not been for the Cossacks a con- 
siderable portion of the French army eventually 
would have got back to France, but with this ubiqui- 
tous and restless body of cavalry worrying and 
alarming the unfortunate soldiers it was impos- 
sible. 

What role the Cossack is going to play in the 
present great war is still uncertain, but it will no 
doubt be a very momentous one, especially if the 
Germans, or rather Prussians, are put to flight. 
The terror inspired by the campaigns of 1812, 1813, 
1 8 14 still lives in East Prussia, through which some 
thousands of these wild horsemen, accompanied by 



THE COSSACKS 93 

hordes of "Khirgise" bowmen, marched to Paris. 
The atrocities then committed by Cossacks and not 
by modern Prussians are still remembered. If I am 
not mistaken the wild, savage spirit still lives in 
many of them, especially in those from the Cau- 
casus and the Asiatic provinces. If these men are 
not controlled by their officers they will commit 
fearful acts of vandalism on the Germans, who will 
thus be paid back in their own coin for the shameful 
way they have treated defenceless Belgians with 
whom they had no quarrel. An officer of the Gen- 
eral Staff told the writer a few years ago that the 
Cossacks, for some reason or other, are much in- 
censed against the Prussians, and that he had him- 
self heard a Cossack officer urge his men not to 
spare the Prussians but to slaughter them all — men, 
women, and children — when they entered the coun- 
try. This they will probably do unless held in 
check, so bitter is their hatred of the "Prussakee." 
But we must remember that all Cossacks are not 
the same either with regard to race or character; 
there are many different types of varying character, 
appearance and tradition. There are 185,000' Don 
Cossacks, Kuban Cossacks, Terek Cossacks, Astra- 
chan Cossacks, Ural Cossacks, Orenburg Cossacks, 
Trans-Baikal Cossacks, Amour Cossacks and many 
others too numerous to mention here. Not all are 



94 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

of the Stenker-Rjazin and Taras Bulba type; they 
slaughtered everyone they came across without 
mercy. Some of the kindest men who ever lived 
have been Cossacks and also some of the most cruel. 
Since the last Turkish war the number of Cos- 
sack regiments have been increased, and it is alleged 
that the total number that Russia has under her 
standard to-day is 185,000 men; most of these are 
freeholders or small farmers who supply their own 
horses, uniform and accoutrements. They possess 
many valuable privileges, the remains of their 
former power ; they have much greater political and 
civil freedom than the ordinary Russian citizen who 
since the destruction of the old free republic of 
Northern Russia and the invasion of the Tartars 
has ne\^er known what true freedom is, such as is 
enjoyed by the English, the Scandinavians, the 
French, the Dutch and the Belgians. Since the 
Boer War the Cossacks have been converted into 
mounted infantry, but it is not yet known whether 
the innovation is of much practical use. The Cos- 
sack is generally taken to be a mounted soldier, but 
there are regiments which also consist of infantry 
and artillery. Generally attached to bodies of in- 
fantry, they are used for scouting, foraging, keep- 
ing up lines of communication and protecting the 
flanks of an army from sudden attack. They are 



THE COSSACKS 95 

divided into hundreds, like the old Romans, and 
commanded by an officer corresponding to the Ro- 
man centurion. Their military organisation is quite 
distinct and original and bears traces of Scandi- 
navian, Tartar and perhaps even of Byzantine in- 
fluence. 

One of the most remarkable and interesting pe- 
riods of the writer's life was spent among these peo- 
ple in the peaceful and beautiful Ukraine (Little 
Russia), where so many of them dwell. The 
Ukraine is truly a land flowing with milk and honey. 
Here everything grows in abundance ; wheat, maize, 
sunflowers, buckwheat, tobacco, grapes, melons and 
every variety of fruit. No wonder then that there 
is a merry side to the fierce, rough Cossacks when 
they have been reared and nurtured in such a rich 
and verdant country. In their beautiful songs, 
dances and choruses they show that they know how 
to appreciate the beautiful and are full of the joy of 
life, when not engaged in war which, unfortunately, 
brings out the latent barbaric nature in them. 

What can be more plaintive and beautiful than 
their songs, some of which resemble the old English 
madrigals ? No people in Europe have more beauti- 
ful folk songs than the Cossacks. The only people 
who can in any way approach them in this respect 
are the Welsh and perhaps some of the Scandi- 



96 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

navian races. The true Cossack is nearly always 
singing ; when not singing he is' frequently dancing. 
He must somehow or other get rid of his exuberant 
vitality. His dancing is not awkward and violent 
like that of many of the Great Russians; it is full 
of grace, poetry and harmony, probably owing to 
the refining influence of the Poles, who for a time 
ruled the Cossacks with a rod of iron. 

Notwithstanding the fact that they are such splen- 
did horsemen and can perform feats which would 
turn a cow-boy green with envy, they are far too 
lightly mounted to be used against heavy cavalry. 
The weight of man and horse of a modern squadron 
of heavy cavalry would ride down an equal number 
of Cossacks, mounted on their light but nimble 
horses. But they still have their uses in war, and if, 
during the present struggle, they perform but a tithe 
of the valiant deeds they have accomplished in 
former wars they will make an impression on Ger- 
many which will not soon be forgotten. 



THE COSSACKS IN MODERN TIMES 

AND A COSSACK AMAZON NOW AT 

THE FRONT 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE COSSACKS IN MODERN TIMES: 
AND A COSSACK AMAZON NOW AT 
THE FRONT 

MY first acquaintance with the Cossacks was 
during the reign of Alexander III, when a 
large force of these irregulars performed a series 
of military evolutions in the great square of the 
Kremlin at Moscow. The feats of horsemanship 
common among them are rarely excelled in any 
other country. These wild riders shot well in every 
imaginable position — some hanging below the belly 
of their steeds, others standing upright in the sad- 
dle, in all the exercises showing equal smartness 
and skill. The most surprising feat represented the 
carrying away of a woman by a Cossack on horse- 
back, while standing in his saddle. The men seem 
to live on horseback, and to be a part of the ani- 
mals that carry them, like the fabled centaurs of 
the Greeks. 

The second occasion on which I came into con- 
tact with this branch of the Russian Army was 

99 



loo THE RUSSIAN ARMY! 

when near Lubotin, on one of the estates of Prince 
Svajatopock Mirsky, the Hetman of the Don Cos- 
sacks. Both of the Hetman's two sturdy sons were 
Cossacks, although they were highly educated and 
belonged to one of Russia's most noble families. 
It was owing to a member of this family that Rus- 
sia was for a short time granted a constitution 
and representative government. The father him- 
self was a descendant of Svjatopock, the Grand 
Duke who murdered his brother and who for that 
reason was called "the accursed." He was ex- 
tremely handsome, with a long white beard, re- 
sembling Edward HI, or some old Viking earl. 

Although his family had been in the country for 
a thousand years, he still suggested the viking type. 
His wife, a beautiful, accomplished lady whom I 
shall ever remember with pleasure, showed me 
round the picture-gallery, which contained many 
valuable works of the old masters. Her sons in- 
formed me that they each had over 1500 acres of 
the communal land as their birthright, owing to the 
fact that they were born free Cossacks. 

Later on, in the Kuban district of the Northern 
Caucasus, I came to know others of this denomina- 
tion, who were very wealthy; some of the Kuban 
Cossacks, in fact, owned one or two thousand acres 
of the yery finest land in Europe, which they 



THE COSSACKS IN MODERN TIMES loi 

farmed, or rented to the Greeks, who raised here 
tobacco equal to the best Turkish. These soldiers 
are exceedingly handsome, and dead shots. They 
are such splendid horsemen that with the Cossacks 
of the Terek they are usually selected for the Tsar's 
own bodyguard, and are known as the Imperial 
Convoy, trusted to the last, and accompanying the 
Tsar in his travels whenever possible. Their erect 
carriage and fine appearance is said to be due to 
the fact that their ancestors, during the forty years 
they were fighting the brave Caucasians, used to 
run off and marry all the most beautiful Caucasian 
women they could find. This struggle was so long 
and bitter that in the Kuban province almost every 
acre has been drenched with blood. 

The last time I met the Cossacks the meeting was 
very close indeed. I was in St. Petersburg, and 
there were serious riots in the Kazan Square. The 
Don Cossacks, called out in haste, rode down the 
students, labourers, and other demonstrators like 
a living avalanche; they appeared to spring from 
nowhere. In an instant, almost before I was aware 
of them, they were charging the crowd, striking 
right and left with their terrible loaded whips that 
cut and tear the flesh almost like a sword. Never 
shall I forget that scene; many men and young 
women were trampled under the feet of the horses. 



102 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

During the manoeuvres at Krasno Selo, on one 
occasion I narrowly escaped being ridden down by 
about three thousand of these dare-devil horsemen. 
In peace they are terrible enough; in war, they 
are wellnigh irresistible, rushing like a whirlwind 
on the scattering enemy. Nothing can withstand 
them; men and horses fall like ripe corn under 
their long lances and the curved sabres which they 
wield with such awful skill. An idea of what they 
can accomplish with these two favourite weapons 
may be obtained from the thrilling tale "Taras 
Bulba," by Gogol, the famous Cossack author. 
These form the formidable enemy which Austrians 
and Prussians have to meet on the eastern frontiers. 
Should they once succeed in breaking through, they 
will be in Berlin and Vienna, in all probability, al- 
most as soon as this little work sees the light. 

The Cossacks are of two great kinds, Stanovia 
and Caucasian. The latter are attired in close- 
fitting "tcherkeske" or long gowns, and armed with 
small-bore magazine rifles, weighing nine pounds 
(Russian), a curved sword, and a double-edged 
dagger. All other Cossacks are dressed in a long 
surtout without buttons, and armed with a similar 
rifle, a curved sword and a long lance. Old-fash- 
ioned pictures of the Crimean War often show 
these warriors. Their horses are Siberian or 



THE COSSACKS IN MODERN TIMES 103 

Khirgise, certainly not much as regards appearance, 
but as hardy and enduring as their riders. A pe- 
culiar saddle is used, on which are placed two cush- 
ions; when on the march these are employed as a 
bag for their linen and various trifles. 

Hardened by constant exposure, face to face with 
wild and lonely aspects of nature, the Siberian 
Cossacks have acquired a sombre and melancholy 
character. The majority of them are Old Believers, 
i.e. they keep to the rites and observances as prac- 
tised by the Orthodox Church before its reform by 
the patriarch Nikon. For this they were formerly 
much persecuted; but latterly they have been al- 
lowed to retain their own peculiar views unmo- 
lested. 

In times of peace these regiments guard the Si- 
berian frontiers against savage nomadic tribes. 
When not engaged thus, they busy themselves with 
agricultural pursuits. Every soldier is obliged to 
serve, and the practice of drawing lots, which ob- 
tains with other portions of the population, does not 
exist among them. On attaining the age of eigh- 
teen, a Cossack is bound to join the preparatory 
category of the army, in which he must remain for 
three years; during this period, he is classed as 
under-aged, and in the first year he must procure 
at his own cost a horse, uniform, and arms. In 



I04 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

the second and third years the young soldier is 
taught to ride, to shoot, to drill, and in winter he is 
occupied in learning to read, and in mastering the 
military regulations. 

At the age of twenty-one the young Cossacks are 
entered for service in the field regiments of the 
first order, in which they serve four years. After 
the expiration of this term they are granted leave 
of absence for four years, being then considered 
as belonging to regiments of the second order. In 
this time of comparative rest they are expected to 
keep uniforms and horses in good condition, and 
every spring to undergo a month of military train- 
ing. Thanks to this system, at from twenty-five 
to thirty years of age they are experienced, and 
well acquainted with military demands, ready to 
serve their country at a moment's notice. 

After four years with the troops of the second 
order, the Cossack is entered again for service in 
regiments of the third order; while here, he is only 
expected to furnish uniform and arms; his horse, 
which costs about £4 or £5 in South Russia, must 
be forthcoming when he is called up for active 
service. Completing this term, he is classed among 
the reserves; of these there are a great many, prob- 
ably equal in number to their confreres in harness. 
Five years in the Reserves brings him the status 



THE COSSACKS IN MODERN TIMES 105 

of the "Opolchina," a division corresponding to 
the German Landsturm. Of these there are over 
four milHons in Russia. It will be seen that a Cos- 
sack actually serves his country for twenty years, 
ever ready with horse, sword, rifle, and lance to 
fight for the Tsar, the country, and the true faith. 
Since the Turkish War, a considerable number of 
Cossacks have been trained in the same manner as 
the regular army, and thanks to this superior pro- 
cess a great part of what was once a purely irregu- 
lar force may now be regarded as regular mounted 
infantry. Their great use was signally exempli- 
fied in the fighting round Tientsin and in Man- 
churia, where they proved of inestimable value. 

In stature and strength, the Siberian Cossacks 
and regulars are almost giants in comparison with 
their European comrades; but, with all their brav- 
ery and hardihood, they are more fit to cope with 
Tartars, Turcomans, and savage races than with 
the differently trained forces of western Europe. 

If we evince enthusiasm for a Cossack to whom 
riding is more natural than walking, what measure 
of praise should be awarded to the "Kazatchka" 
(Cossack woman), Mme. A. Koodesheva, who ar- 
rived in St. Petersburg, after a ride of 12,000 versts 
(6000 miles), from Harbin, in Northern Man- 
churia, where they proved of inestimable value. 



io6 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

forests, infested with wild animals, fugitive out- 
laws, and convicts, at war with man and society. 

Mme. Koodesheva is a widow of the former com- 
mander of the Orenburg Cossacks. As the wife of 
a Cossack, she has probably been at home in the 
saddle from her earliest years ; for among her hardy 
race the very children are able to ride almost as 
soon as they can walk. Her wonderful ride, which 
outrivals the feats of Dick Turpin, Paul Revere, 
Captain Burnaby, Nicholas Pjeskoff, and all the 
other heroes of the saddle, is described by her as 
follows : — 

"On May 2 I set out for Harbin by the old Mos- 
cow-Siberian road ('Sibersky Tract'), taking the 
route along the line, which was occupied by the 
Siberian frontier guard. My horse, 'Mongolek,' 
was quite untamed, and had only been once under 
the saddle previously. She carried in all a weight 
of about four poods (144 lb.), which included my- 
self and my impedimenta. My only other com- 
panion was 'Faraf,' my St. Bernard, but I was 
obliged to leave him behind in Tchita, as it was im- 
possible to feed him, food being so scarce. 

"In Manchuria heavy rains had fallen, and in 
many places the roads had been completely spoilt, 
which made riding exceedingly difficult. 

"The further I went the worse it got; the road 



THE COSSACKS IN MODERN TIMES 107 

was entirely ruined, and it was nothing but bog 
and taiga (primeval forest) for days on end. The 
worst, however, was to follow, for between the sta- 
tions of Soodshansk and Bolotnoi, on the great Si- 
berian highway, I was obliged to ride all alone, a 
distance of thirty miles through the forest paths 
made by the 'Brodjagee.' ^ It is true I had with me 
a revolver and a dagger. Once I met some vaga- 
bonds, who accosted me, saying, 'Lady, lady! God 
will reward you for your labours, but give us only 
some tobacco!' 

"I thereupon threw them some cigarettes, but 
at the same time kept them at a distance. From 
Bolotnoi to the village of Koostel, a distance of 
twelve miles, I was forced to take guides. Had I 
not done so it would have been impossible to pro- 
ceed, as my route lay through the most awful marsh 
and bog conceivable. How I ever got through I 
do not even know to this day! 

"Between Tchita and Verchnloodinsk I crossed 
the Yablonsk mountain range. Here and there were 
to be seen the rotting mile posts, indicating the 
remains of the high road, but all around there was 
not a vestige of any human habitation. Now and 
then I happened to come across old men and women, 

^ Brodjagee, the vagrants, exiles, murderers, and con- 
victs who have escaped into the forests, where they are 
frequently a source of great danger to travellers. 



io8 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

who had formerly been employed to watch the 
road. 

"I had, however, the good fortune to come across 
a whole caravan, or party of travellers, in the very 
wilds of Siberia. I was lying outstretched on the 
ground alongside my horse, when suddenly I seemed 
to hear a voice in my sleep : — 

" 'Ah, what a nice little horse and a lady in a 
Caucasian coat and a sheepskin hat!' 

"I glanced around, and beheld, to my surprise, 
a lot of monks with crosses on their chests. They 
were travelling to the diocese of the local arch- 
bishop, accompanied by six policemen, and the 
clerks of the chancellery. The meeting could not 
possibly have been more opportune, for they were 
able to feed me for several days with milk, eggs, 
and even white bread ! 

"I must confess that at the beginning of my jour- 
ney the question of the commissariat did not worry 
me; for there was no difliculty in obtaining from 
the Booryats (of Eastern Siberia) every kind of 
edible, including meat. But, later on, I fared badly, 
especially among the Russians : they feed the whole 
year round on rye bread and tea. They drink brick 
tea, and stew it in large pots. Eggs are exceedingly 
dear, and cost 7, 8, 9, and 10 copecks each (2d.). 
The reason for the high price is to be found in the 



THE COSSACKS IN MODERN TIMES 109 

fact that there are a great many agents buying 
them up for the Enghsh exporting firms, also be- 
cause the natives steal the eggs and sell them to 
the English at a good price. 

"Starting from the Government of Tobolsk all the 
people seem to be very noisy and loquacious, and 
at the same time they are also more impudent and 
avaricious. 

"On July I I was already in Irkutsk, and on 
August 25 was at Krasnoyark. Here I remained 
some days. The weather suddenly changed. It 
rained and snowed incessantly. 

"On October i I arrived at Omsk, having ridden 
4000 miles. I remained in Omsk twenty days, and 
at the request of the military governor set out again 
through the Cossack settlements of the second di- 
vision of the Siberian Cossack forces. The offi- 
cers and the Cossacks greeted my arrival among 
them with ecstasy, 

"On January 6 I arrived at Tchelabinsk. 

"Towards the end of January I crossed the Urals, 
I was, however, compelled to remain a short time 
at the Satkin Crown Ironworks, as the cold was 
60 degrees below zero. Every one was astonished 
how I went without mittens, or my 'bashalik' (Cau- 
casian hood). But, first and foremost, I thought 
of my horse. 



no THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

"In March I saw Kazan, and Nishni Novgorod 
in April. But on April 29, on my birthday, and 
the day of my Angel (name's day), a great mis- 
fortune befell me! At Gorocovetz in the Govern- 
ment of Vladimir, the President of the Local Cir- 
cuit Court came out to meet me. His velocipede 
frightened my horse and hurt its leg. I then was 
obliged to attend the animal ten days without a 
veterinary surgeon. 

"In Moscow I was met by the officers of the 
185th Don Cossack Regiment. I had scarcely ar- 
rived in the town when I saw crowds of people, at- 
tracted by the experiments in aviation. One of the 
crowd, a young man, on seeing* me, exclaimed: 

" 'Surely we have enough Cossack hangmen 
without having "Kazatchkee" (women Cossacks) 
also.' 

"I lost my patience, and struck him with my 
nagaika.^ The incident passed as if nothing had 
happened. 

"From Moscow I travelled by short stages. At 
Klin I passed many automobilists racing, whilst 
at Kretscach I first saw the aeroplanes flying; 
further on, at Valdai, in the Valdai Hills, the mili- 
tary automobiles were racing and manoeuvring. 

i"Nagaika," a Cossack whip, which, weighted with a 
bullet, is a terrible weapon, and cuts like a sword. 



THE COSSACKS IN MODERN TIMES iii 

"I was obliged to wait three whole days, because 
I did not care to take the risk of having my horse 
frightened and lamed. Notwithstanding the fact 
she had carried me more than 12,000 versts ^ in fif- 
teen months, she was not quite accustomed to man- 
kind. . , . Only the other day one of the Cos- 
sacks endeavoured to mount her, when she gave 
him a nasty fall. 

"See how I take care of 'Mongolek,' " the brave 
"Kazatchka" exclaimed when talking about the 
virtues of her trusty companion. "Look at her 
back ! It is quite straight, and the hair is even 
not worn off, although she has carried me 12,000 
versts ! 'Mongolek' is of pure Mongolian breed :> 
light grey in colour, and eight years old. 

"You ask me what is the object of my journey? 
My main object is to prove to the Tsar the loyalty 
of the Cossack women. He not only requires Cos- 
sacks, but 'Kazatchkee' (women Cossacks), who 
will always be ready to join in the defence of the 
fatherland. I have received permission, by the way, 
to present 'Mongolek' to the Tsarevitch, and I was 
desirous of proving the lasting importance of 
cavalry in general." 

^One verst equals about two-thirds of an English mile. 

Note on Cossacks. — The word Kaaaks originally meant 
a free-booter and is of very ancient origin. The Cos- 



112 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

sacks are a very mixed race, and are of Tartar, Turk, 
Caucasian, Slavonic, and even Gothic origin. Their 
present military organisation dates from Peter the Great. 
"Once a Cossack always a Cossack." No matter how 
old a Cossack is, he belongs to the reserve forces of the 
"National Defence," and, if required, accompanies his 
sons and grandchildren to battle. 



THE DISPOSITION OF THE TROOPS, AND 
THE REALISM OF THE MANCEUVRES 



CHAPTER IX 

THE DISPOSITION OF THE TROOPS, AND 
THE REALISM OF THE MANCEUVRES 

THIS enormous army, variously estimated as 
numbering from five to six million of men, 
is not stationed, we must remember, solely in the 
European area. There are, as I have already said, 
forty or fifty thousand Frontier Guards, who are 
permanently on the Austrian, German, Armenian, 
Persian, Roumanian, and other boundaries, with 
instructions to keep out smugglers, and to prevent 
unauthorised persons without passports from cross- 
ing the border. 

Behind the Frontier Guards are the various Army 
Corps, stationed in the different military circuits of 
Kieff, Warsaw, Moscow, Petersburg, Riga, Revel, 
and Finland. An army corps usually contains from 
two to three hundred thousand men ; the one at St. 
Petersburg comprises the Guards, the flower of 
the forces. There are generally three corps stationed 
in the Caucasus, and four cavalry divisions, without 
counting the Kuban Cossacks. Another 1 5o,0(X) are 
115 



ii6 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

maintained in Central Asia, and a considerable 
force holds the Japanese and Chinese frontiers. 

If the reports can be credited, there are about a 
million troops in Finland at the present time, as 
it was feared that the Germans, after seizing the 
Aland Isles, would endeavour to march on St. 
Petersburg through the Grand Duchy. Owing to 
the failure of the projected campaign in East Prus- 
sia, this plan has probably fallen through. It is 
hardly to be doubted that an attack on Finland was 
contemplated, for the great manoeuvres in that coun- 
try, which I attended for several summers in suc- 
cession, were specially arranged in view of a sup- 
posed attack on the Grand Duchy by the Germans. 
The evolutions were carried through with such in- 
tense realism that infantry soldiers were found dead 
in the forests round my brother's estate. The com- 
missariat waggons, owing to the rapid forced 
marches, could not keep pace with the troops; 
with the result that many men succumbed, com- 
pletely worn out by heat, hunger, and exhaustion. 
Had it not been for the hospitality shown to these 
unfortunates by English residents, some of whom 
have villas in Finland, many more would undoubt- 
edly have perished. I give this little incident simply 
to show with what rigid reality the Army's manoeu- 
vres are carried out. 



DISPOSITION OF THE TROOPS 117 

In the capital, and in centres such as Lodz and 
Warsaw, where there are huge industrial popula- 
tions and often numbers of disaffected inhabitants, 
large bodies of troops have necessarily to be quar- 
tered. 

The need for keeping so many divisions in Fin- 
land, the Baltic Provinces, Odessa, Central Asia, 
Manchuria, and many other danger-spots, with the 
object of maintaining order among the native 
people and of guarding against revolutionary 
outbreaks, considerably diminishes the fighting 
strength of the Army as a whole. In the Japanese 
War so many men were left at home for this pur- 
pose that Russia practically lost the day through 
sheer inability to utilise the tremendous military 
powers which she undoubtedly possesses. 

The manoeuvres of the Army generally take place 
every summer and are carried out on a scale im- 
known in England. Every year the Guards manoeu- 
vre around Petrograd and Tsarkoe Selo, but at 
times the operations of this and other crack regi- 
ments extend the whole distance between the capi- 
tal and the ancient fortress of Narva, the scene of 
the victory of Charles XII over the Russian Army. 
These grand evolutions, which I often visited, were 
carried on with at least 200,000 men — 100,000 on 
each side. The Tsar and the Grand Dukes usually 



ii8 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

attend and inspire -the troops under their command. 
The conditions are made to resemble those of actual 
warfare as nearly as possible. Cavalry swim 
through deep rivers, and divisions of the infantry 
also, with the result that many an unfortunate sol- 
dier is drowned or expires from exhaustion. The 
Grand Dukes follow on horseback ; though reared in 
luxury, they have frequently to undergo the fatigue 
and strain of the ordinary soldier. 

Exceedingly important tests have also been car- 
ried out at Koorsk in South Russia, on a scale equal 
in magnitude to those already referred to. The op- 
erations I witnessed in Narva covered an extent of 
territory equal to the combined area of England, 
Scotland, and Ireland. The Finnish manoeuvres 
were also extremely realistic. 

For many years the Russian troops have been 
executing a series of manoeuvres in those parts of 
the Empire which were liable to be invaded. We 
need not be surprised, therefore, if the German 
armies endeavour to invade Finland or the Baltic 
provinces; the Russians have long been ready for 
such a contingency. 

The greatest manoeuvres I ever saw took place 
between Krasno Selo and Narva. About 200,000 
men were present on this occasion. Half of them 
were supposed to be Germans or a foreign army 



DISPOSITION OF THE TROOPS 119 

endeavouring to march on Petrograd ; the other half 
represented the force of defence. The Emperor 
and Grand Dukes took an active part in these opera- 
tions, which lasted several weeks. Owing to the 
courtesy of the military authorities, I and several 
other correspondents were furnished with passes 
•and permitted to watch the operations at close quar- 
ters. The Grand Dukes, especially the Grand Duke 
Nicholas, the elder (father of the present Grand 
Duke), took a lively interest in the proceedings. 
Later on I witnessed the manoeuvres in Finland, at 
which the Tsar was present. 

The Finnish troops, which have since been dis- 
banded, took a prominent part in the Wilhelmstrand 
manoeuvres, and won the admiration of an old colo- 
nel who was with me. But these troops were not 
popular with the Russian regiments of the Guard, 
and had they not been disbanded it is quite possible 
that blood would have flowed on both sides long 
before this. The Finnish people, as we have seen, 
no longer support their own military, which during 
the Thirty Years' War with Germany played such 
a glorious part, proving so hardy and brave that 
they were generally used for forlorn hopes or when 
no other troops would carry out desperate assaults 
and charges. During these interesting operations, 
carried on with all the grim realism of war, a por- 



120 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

tion of the forces occupied Pskoff, once the capital 
of one of the most powerful republics in Russia, but 
now a sleepy provincial town. Here an officer of 
the gendarmes wanted to arrest me, for he could 
not understand what I, an Englishman, had to do 
with Russian manoeuvres. (The English were then 
very unpopular in Russia.) Judging from the ques- 
tions he put to me he was not conscious of the im- 
portance of the English Press, which I then repre- 
sented. 

The famous Preolrashensk regiment, founded by 
Peter the Great, and the artillery of the Guards, 
with other regiments, numbering about 60,000 men, 
paraded before the Tsar and the Grand Dukes. It 
was a brilliant spectacle as thousands of these fine 
stalwart men, the pick of the Empire, passed before 
their "Little Father" and the members of the stafif 
who stood around him. Pskoff was simply packed 
with military ; there were about two soldiers to every 
civilian. Never since the day when the brave in- 
habitants endured a three months' siege by the 
forces of Stephan Batroi had this once famous city 
seen such a concourse of fighting men. When we 
remember that the King of Poland had 150,000 
men with him and could not with all this force 
take the town, we can form an idea of the strength 
of this ancient republic, the sister of Novgorod the 



DISPOSITION OF THE TROOPS 121 

Great, "My Lord Novgorod." Gustavus Adolphus, 
with his brave army of Swedes who defeated Tilly 
and Wallenstein, had no better luck, and was forced 
to retire from the battered walls. Now Tilly, Wal- 
lenstein and the chivalrous Gustavus are no more; 
but Pskoff still stands, a shadow and wreck of its 
former might and glory. The city is full of ancient 
churches and monasteries, dating from the days 
when Varangian (Viking) Grand Dukes ruled over 
Russia, but in these pages this time must be passed 
over in silence. 

What particularly impressed me throughout the 
manoeuvres was the great interest the Tsar and 
the Grand Dukes took in military matters. They 
did not spare themselves in the least, several of 
them undergoing all the hardships, trouble and toil 
of a simple officer. Finest of all, perhaps, was the 
old Grand Duke Michael, the son of the Tsar Nicho- 
las. When last I saw him, although he was over 
seventy years of age, he marched at the head of 
his regiment of artillery, equal in every way to a 
much younger man. Like the iron emperor, Nicho- 
las, he delighted in the rough life of a soldier. His 
food, during the manoeuvres, was of the simplest, 
and he slept in a rough iron bedstead that many a 
private would not care to rest in. He was con- 
sidered one of the wealthiest men in Europe, and, 



122 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

although his estates in Russia occupied the space 
of many English counties, he evidently was only too 
delighted to escape from the pomp and luxury of 
his exalted position and to rough it once more with 
the men, who almost worshipped the ground he trod 
upon. He was not only head of all the Orders of 
the Russian Empire, but also of all the Russian 
artillery, which then numbered 6000 pieces. After 
witnessing the performances of his gunners he used 
to call up the soldiers and distribute new silver 
roubles and silver watches, which were greatly 
prized — "for had not the Grand Duke presented 
them with his own hands?" 

The Grand Duke Vladimir, the Tsar's uncle, was 
equally in evidence. Although he was very hand- 
some, and brave to temerity, he was not so popular 
with his officers and men as the veteran Grand 
Duke, who took such a prominent part in the cam- 
paign in Asia Minor during the last Russo-Turkish 
War. 

There was also the Grand Duke Paul, then Com- 
mander of the Guard, tall and erect as a pine-tree ; 
the affable and cultivated Duke Constantine, Presi- 
dent of the Academy of Sciences ; but the space and 
time at my disposal do not permit me to describe all 
these eminent personages in detail. 

Each day, after all the manceuvres, parades and 



DISPOSITION OF THE TROOPS 123 

marches were over, there was a grand rehgious and 
mihtary ceremony called the "Objezd Lager," or 
ride round the camp — which was sometimes several 
miles in circumference. The troops were without 
side-arms on these occasions. 

After inspecting the various regiments, the Tsar 
received the reports of his officers. Then, at a given 
signal, about five hundred cannon were fired simul- 
taneously, while a thousand musicians and drum- 
mers struck up the "Koln Slavjan," a Russian na- 
tional hymn. All the military present, from the Em- 
peror to the humblest private soldier, then intoned 
the Lord's Prayer. The effect of this ceremony 
was impressive beyond words. Anyone who wishes 
to see it to perfection must visit the camp at Tsars- 
koe Selo, for naturally when the Tsar and the Grand 
Dukes are present it is far more striking than on 
ordinary occasions. 

After watching the manceuvres at Krasno, the 
scene of operations was transferred to the Finnish 
coast, opposite Cronstadt. This was after the op- 
posing forces had come into contact outside Krasno, 
where the great mock battle was fought which was 
to decide the fate of St. Petersburg. As might be 
anticipated, the invading army was driven back after 
a stubborn contest, thanks to the prowess of the Im- 
perial Guards, the flower of the army. While this 



124 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

struggle was going on all round Krasno, another 
section of the invading troops made a descent on 
the coast of Finland, and occupied the road right 
up to St. Petersburg, or Petrograd, as it is now 
called. Important bridges were taken by assault, 
and the conditions of actual warfare were repre- 
sented as closely as possible. 

Many soldiers collapsed at these evolutions on the 
grand scale in consequence of the unusual strain. 
The heat was terrific, and after the troops had 
passed eastward several of my friends informed me 
that they found men lying completely prostrate. 
Russian soldiers are trained in such a manner 
that they are expected to accustom themselves 
to actual war conditions, so that they shall be 
able to take the field at a moment's notice against 
any enemy. 

During all these operations, I may say, the tem- 
perature was much higher than anything we are ac- 
customed to experience in England. The men were 
dressed, however, to withstand the heat. The ma- 
jority of them wore clean white linen blouses, black 
trousers, top-boots, and a round cap, and the entire 
outfit only cost the Government a very small sum 
per man. Nothing more practical or economical 
have I seen in any army, and were the system 
adapted to this country and our colonies, there 



DISPOSITION OF THE TROOPS 125 

would be a great saving to the nation and increased 
comfort to the soldiers, who, during the summer 
months, find it a trying matter to march and manoeu- 
vre in the present tight-fitting uniforms. 



BAYONET AND SWORD 



CHAPTER X 
BAYONET AND SWORD 

DURING my residence at St. Petersburg, I 
often attended the School of Arms, and 
from what I saw there was not much impressed by 
the performance of the officers as swordsmen. Great 
attention, however, was given to bayonet-practice. 
The bayonet is undoubtedly the favourite weapon 
of the Russian soldier, and in his heavy hands it 
is extremely effective. It was Suvoroff's weapon, 
as we have seen. In the present war it is playing 
an unexpected part, and the time and trouble spent 
on bayonet tactics evidently have not been wasted. 
The Russians, being heavy of build, always en- 
deavour when fighting to get to close quarters, so 
that their generally superior weight may tell. In 
the last war, Japanese nimbleness and staying pow- 
ers were sometimes more than a match, however, 
for the strength and weight of their opponents. In 
recent encounters with the Austrians the bayonet 
made havoc with their ranks, and will again when- 

129 



I30 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

ever the stolid soldier of the Tsar faces his en- 
emy. 

Russian commanders have such great belief in 
the "Shtyck," as they call it, that much time is given 
to teaching its use. In an engagement the infantry 
always march with bayonets screwed on the end 
of their rifles; they are so used to this that the in- 
creased weight does not interfere with the accuracy 
of firing. As a rule, they prepare to use the wea- 
pon directly they come within 150 yards of the front 
ranks of the enemy, and do not "fix bayonets" at the 
last moment, as is the custom in some European 
armies. This is an unwise practice, as in the excite- 
ment of attack a soldier is apt to forget all about 
his bayonet until it is too late to affix it. The Japa- 
nese, who are very skilful in the use of this arm, 
usually affix it when about 350 feet from the an- 
tagonist, with the result that the Russians, in the 
last war, often forestalled them by rushing to the 
counter-attack before the Japs were ready to engage. 

Experience has shown that when the attacking 
party is able to approach within a hundred yards 
of the opponent the shooting of the latter has very 
little effect, for the troops, unless unusually cool 
and well disciplined, begin to fire wildly directly 
the enemy comes to such close quarters. Russian 
soldiers therefore make it a general rule to advance 



BAYONET AND SWORD 131 

to the counter-attack with the bayonet as soon as 
possible. Generally, these tactics are extremely suc- 
cessful. 

The Guards, who are always stationed in and 
round the capital, are specially trained in the use 
of this formidable weapon, and when things look 
very black these splendid troops, who with the Rou- 
manians took the almost impregnable fortress of 
Plevna at the point of the bayonet, are called out 
as a dernier ressort. If I am not mistaken, the 
Guards were not ordered out to the Far East in 
the Japanese campaign until all chances of victory 
had vanished. But in the present war there is rea- 
son to believe that they are being used in East Prus- 
sia. If this is the case, it is quite easy to understand 
why the Germans have had to retreat and to en- 
trench themselves in their second line of defence. 

As swordsmen, if the Russians do not seem bril- 
liant, the Cossacks are and always have been very 
skilful. Their favourite weapon, however, is the 
long lance, which they wield with deadly dexterity. 
Many of them are also expert with the lasso, throw- 
ing it for a surprising distance and capturing the 
foe alive, if a trifle bruised, whenever they choose. 

In shooting with the carbine, or short rifle, the 
Cossacks are extremely efficient, and often, on ac- 
count of their coolness and their marvellous eye- 



132 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

sight, are employed as sharp-shooters to pick off 
items of the enemy's forces from a distance. There 
is little doubt, however, that the chief power of 
the Russian soldier lies in his bayonet, not in the 
rifle, which is rather too scientific a weapon for the 
village peasant to handle ; he has not the requisite 
skill, touch, and finesse which belong to French, 
Belgian, or English soldiers. Military experts hold 
the opinion that the Prussian victory at Tannen- 
berg, in E^st Prussia, was solely due to the su- 
periority of the German cannon taken from the 
fortresses of Thorn and Gaudenetz, and to the new 
inventions of Krupp, which have shown their ad- 
vantage over the Russian Horse Artillery, con- 
structed on French models. 



LIABILITY TO SERVE 



CHAPTER XI 
LIABILITY TO SERVE 

THE number of men to be called to the colours 
annually is decided by the Imperial Senate, 
according to the report of the Minister of War. 
Theoretically, the entire male population between 
the ages of twenty-one and forty- four years is liable 
to serve, either in the regulars or in the militia; 
but there are many causes of exemption. 

Speaking broadly, the term of service in the first 
line, or active army, is three years in the infantry, 
field and fort artillery, four years in the other de- 
partments of the Army. The soldier then enters 
the reserve, in which he remains for fourteen or 
fifteen years, undergoing during this period two 
trainings per annum of six weeks each. Having 
completed eighteen years in the first line of the re- 
serve, he passes to the militia or last reserve. Ser- 
vice here is for five years — i.e. until the soldier at- 
tains the age of forty-three. 

The Territorial Army is organised into groups 
of Regulars, Cossacks, Militia and Landsturm. On 

135 



136 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

a peace footing the Cossacks are only maintained 
at one-third of their proper war strength, A Rus- 
sian regiment probably contains more men than 
that of any other country when on a peace footing; 
including officers, musicians, non-commissioned of- 
ficers and men, it numbers 1900; but in war time 
this increases to 4000. A regiment of cavalry usu- 
ally consists of six squadrons; a squadron com- 
prises 1000 men and 900 horses, exclusive of of- 
ficers. Cossack regiments consist of six "sotnias," or 
hundreds, of horsemen — 600 men. The Cossacks, 
unlike the cavalry, have preserved their own na- 
tional organisation, and have not copied the military 
organisation of others. 

I should say that at least 65 per cent of the con- 
scripts, when they join, can neither read nor write. 
The percentage of illiterates among the people at 
large is still greater. The officers have then to teach 
these ignorant men their alphabet, the three R's, and 
other elements of education, and considering that 
some of the poor fellows are little better than bar- 
barians, the task is not an easy one. There is small 
doubt that the Government, which since the days 
of Nicholas I has kept the people in ignorance, is 
much to blame for the backward state of the masses. 
Russian officers have told me that some of the re- 
cruits from outlying districts do not even know their 



LIABILITY TO SERVE 137 

left leg from their right, and that in order to en- 
lighten them a wisp of straw had to be tied to one 
leg, a wisp of hay to the other. Then, by degrees, 
with the repeated call of "Hay" or "Straw" they 
mastered this intricate problem! Such exceptional 
cases, however, were probably Finns, not true Rus- 
sians or Tartars, for both these races are very in- 
telligent. Many of the Finns settled along the 
course of the Volga are practically heathen, and as- 
tonishingly dense. The soldier on the average is 
not so backward as in the Turkish war. In these 
days he reads the newspapers; in the last genera- 
tion he could only smoke them — ^i.e. convert them 
into cigarette-papers. 

Roughly speaking, the terms of service vary ac- 
cording to education. If a man has passed through 
the university, he serves two years in the line and 
sixteen in the reserves; if through the secondary 
schools, he does three years and fifteen respectively ; 
but if he has been brought up in the national schools 
he must put in his full time. Professors and learned 
men whose accomplishments are exceptionally valu- 
able to the State are generally free from military 
duties. 

Universal service was first established by law on 
the first of January, 1874. The practice of paying 
the Crown a certain sum to be exempt is not per- 



138 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

mitted ; but it sometimes happens that doctors can 
be bribed to give certificates of ill-health which 
would free the recalcitrant conscript from his du- 
ties. I believe, however, that this practice is rare; 
according to my experience neither rank nor for- 
tune can be used to prevent a man from serving his 
country when required to do so. I have, in fact, 
known cases both of poor men's sons and of the sons 
of wealthy people dying from their exertions at the 
manoeuvres; the more favoured ones of society be- 
ing treated in precisely the same way as the poorer 
men. 

The liability of the Cossacks to serve is on quite 
a different footing from the regulars. Their term 
of service is for life, and affects the whole civil life 
of the community. They are still, as in olden times, 
a nation of soldiers. For this reason they enjoy the 
use of the Crown Lands in Russia and Siberia on 
very advantageous conditions, and are freed from 
direct taxation; they have also other valuable priv- 
ileges which the Great Russians do not possess. 

Exemption from service in the Army is as fol- 
lows, generally speaking. Those who are unable to 
work in consequence of wounds, sickness, or de- 
formity need not serve. The only son of a widowed 
mother, and the only son among several brothers 
who is able to work, or who is one of a family 



LIABILITY TO SERVE 139 

of orphans ; or the only grandson, living with grand- 
parents who have no son to support them : these are 
exempt. An illegitimate son who is cared for by 
his mother, in the event of there being no other 
son capable of working for her, is free; and exiles 
also need not serve. 

Many of the aborigines of Siberia, belonging to 
Tobolsk, Tomsk, Yenesiesk, Yakutsk, and Kams- 
chatka, are exempt from service; the inhabitants 
of Turkestan and subjects of the Grand Duchy of 
Finland are excluded, but in place of military duties 
they have to pay an annual contribution to the Im- 
perial Exchequer. The Finns are not considered 
sufficiently loyal to be enrolled ; they also pay a mili- 
tary tax. Since 191 2 this tax has been increased 
annually, until it now amounts to 16 million marks 
(£640,000). The Caucasians, who are even more 
unreliable than the Finns, also contribute in the 
same way an exemption-tax. With the Cossacks, 
reasons for exemption are practically the same as 
among the regular troops. There are so many of 
these opportunities for evading service, that one 
cannot say that conscription presses so hardly upon 
the Russian people as it does upon other nations in 
Europe, such as the Germans, Austrians, French and 
Italians. 

Service in the land forces is as follows : for those 



140 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

who enter the infantry and light artillery, three 
years; for those who enter all other branches (in- 
cluding the flotilla), four years. Service in the re- 
serves is divided into two categories, of which the 
second is intended exclusively for filling up the sec- 
ondary troops and the rear establishments. It termi- 
nates when the soldier attains his thirty-ninth year, 
after which he is in the militia. Persons who enter 
the service after the year in which they are called to 
arms have to make good the time lost by joining the 
reserves, but not after the age of forty-three, for 
then they retire from the military life. All who 
can bear arms are liable for the militia, also all who 
have escaped service in the regular army when lots 
were drawn. Volunteers are obliged to serve eigh- 
teen years — two years in the line and sixteen in the 
reserves. In the event of a volunteer passing the 
officers' examination, his term of service is short- 
ened still more, to twenty months. The volunteers 
have also the privilege of living in the officers' quar- 
ters during a portion of their time of active service. 
Those who pay for their keep and clothing have 
many favours, and for this class the life is not half 
so severe as it is under ordinary conditions. 



DISCIPLINE 



CHAPTER XII 
DISCIPLINE 

IN spite of the friendly, almost fatherly spirit 
existing between the officers and their subordi- 
nates I should say that the discipline in the Rus- 
sian Army is more severe than in any other Euro- 
pean force. Never shall I forget the picture in the 
Imperial Academy of Arts, at St. Petersburg, 
representing an incident that occurred in one of 
the many wars against Persia. In this particular 
conflict it was found impossible to transport the 
artillery across some deep fissures in the roads over 
which the guns must pass before they could be 
placed in position. As the ground was rocky, and 
there was no earth or loose timber to fill the wide 
cracks, the officer in charge was at his wits' end to 
know how to get each heavy piece over the difficult 
bit of road. In desperation, he finally asked if any 
of his men would sacrifice themselves by lying down 
in the hollow and letting the guns proceed over 
their recumbent bodies. Strange to say, about a 
dozen came forward to volunteer for this dreadful 

143 



144 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

task; uncomplaining, they allowed the heavy ar- 
tillery to roll across their quivering bodies, out 
of which the blood and life were soon crushed 
by the unpitying cannon. To such lengths goes the 
spirit of obedience and self-sacrifice ingrained in the 
soldiers of the Tsar. In Russian military history 
many similar instances are chronicled — incidents 
which make us Western nations almost horror- 
stricken at the unconcern with which human life is 
treated. During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, 
of Paul, and of Nicholas other events took place 
which equal in vividness the one I have mentioned. 

Being half an Asiatic, and at the same time a 
fatalist, the soldier sets small value on his own life 
or on that of another. This, with his want of nerves, 
makes him a formidable enemy, and when properly 
trained, fed, and led he is capable of conquering 
the most cruel or ferocious people on earth. A race 
that could hold its own against the fierce Tartars 
and Mongols for centuries, and finally subdue them, 
can accomplish anything in the way of heroism and 
endurance. 

The Russian military code of laws is even more 
severe than the German, and offences which in Eng- 
land would be punished with imprisonment or ex- 
pulsion are in Russia punishable with the death 
penalty. Disciplinary punishment is inflicted on 



DISCIPLINE 145 

the rank and file, and on the commissioned officers 
by extra service, arrest, expulsion from the Army 
and imprisonment. During my seven years' resi- 
dence at Cronstadt executions both of officers and 
men in the garrison were not infrequent. Most of 
these penalties were for being mixed up with revo- 
lutionary propaganda or for mutiny. Soldiers who 
in a state of intoxication struck their superior of- 
ficers were shot without mercy. At Sveaborg, ac- 
cording to the evidence of a Finnish engineer who 
was present at the execution of the mutinous ar- 
tillerymen of the garrison, every second man was 
shot; but before being ranged in line for the final 
tragic scene each man had to dig his own grave. 

Those who do not suffer death are often sent to 
Siberia to work in the mines, or are compelled to 
join a disciplinary battalion, where the most menial 
and trying labours are inflicted on delinquents — ■ 
frequently so arduous that the men do not survive. 

The Superior Court-Martial is in St. Petersburg, 
and consists of generals and highly placed officers. 
This court has power to imprison offenders in a 
fortress, to sentence them to exile in Siberia, to 
expel them from the service, to degrade them, and 
to condemn them to death. 

In this short work it is impossible to give in 
detail the various punishments meted out to those 



146 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

who infringe the mihtary code. Owing to their 
severity the discipHne in the Russian Army is the 
envy of all those martinets who set little or no 
value on human life or independence of spirit. A 
slight notion of its range, and of how little the sol- 
dier troubles about killing a fellow-creature, may 
be obtained from a curious anecdote related to me 
while I was staying at the camp at Krasno. The 
victim on this occasion was an unfortunate Jewish 
contractor, who used to supply hay and provisions 
for the troops. It happened that one day he was 
exceptionally pertinacious, sending to demand 
money from the officer in charge of the regiment. 
At last the officer, losing patience on being so con- 
tinually importuned, exclaimed petulantly: "Oh, 
hang the Jew! I am too busy to attend to him." 
The soldiers standing by took the officer at his 
word. Seizing the Jew, they hauled him into the 
open and hanged him there and then without any 
further ado. 

A few minutes after they returned, jubilant, and 
said: "Evrei povjesen, vash blagorodni ! — The Jew 
is hanged, your high-born!" "What?" shouted the 
officer, horrified ; "do you mean that you have killed 
the man?" 

"Yes, your high-born!" 

"Who gave you that permission?" 



DISCIPLINE 147 

"You yourself, your high-born." 

It was of no use explaining to the men that his 
hasty speech had been merely an irritated exclama- 
tion and that the last thing he had meant was that 
the Jew should be really hanged. His men had been 
brought up to carry out every order immediately, 
without asking questions, and this was merely the 
result of the system. Nothing could be done, so a 
report was sent to the highest military authorities 
explaining how the mistake had occurred with the 
result that both the officer and the men who had 
carried out his "order" were imprisoned. But it 
was not for long. After a brief term of confine- 
ment they were released. The men were rewarded 
for their obedience, and the officer was promoted 
for having his men under such excellent control! 
Truly, in Russia "Shezn cop j eke — Life is worth a 
farthing!" 



OFFICERS AND FRIENDS IN HIGH 
PLACES 



CHAPTER XIII 

OFFICERS AND FRIENDS IN HIGH 
PLACES 

MY relations with Russian officers and com- 
manders have on the whole been exceed- 
ingly pleasant. During twenty-seven years spent 
in many parts of the country I continually came 
into contact with officers of all ranks, from the 
highest general to the simplest rough sergeant. 
"Speak of a man as you find him" is an excellent 
adage, and in this hasty reminiscence of my friends 
in authority I shall endeavour to hold to it. 
The first officer of notable rank I met was bluff 

old Admiral K , the former Governor of Cron- 

stadt with its enormous garrison of 40,000 men. 

Admiral K , who had served in the Far East, 

was of Cossack or Little Russian origin. His bul- 
let-head, thick neck, massive forehead, broad chest 
and long, drooping moustache reminded me of 
Taras Bulba, the mighty Cossack Hetman whose 
life and exploits Gogol, the Dickens of Russia, has 
recorded in one of his finest works. 

151 



152 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

I also made the acquaintance of another admiral, 
the commandant of the fortress, in whom the late 
Alexander III had the most implicit faith. In this 
he was justified, for a more trusty and honourable 
servant could not be found than this kindly old 
sea-dog, now, I am sorry to say, gone to his fathers. 
Before leaving Cronstadt for good, this admiral 
invited me to a splendid lunch, and took me over 
some of the forts. On expressing my surprise that 
he should show me, an Englishman, this favour, he 
replied : "We have no Dreyfus here !" — alluding 
to the fact that Jews were not then allowed to serve 
in the Army. But the sly old sailor did not show 
me the newer forts he had secretly built about ten 
miles outside the city at a cost of several million 
pounds, "for his friends the English," as he jok- 
ingly remarked, "the next time they pay Cronstadt 
a visit." These forts are furnished with the heav- 
iest Krupp guns that could be obtained, which, with 
the mines that are laid in the narrow channel, ren- 
der the place practically impregnable. 

I spent seven years in this "Little Siberia," as the 
officers called the town, and resided with three naval 
men, who had been all round the world and now 
lived together as merry a life as did the Three Mus- 
keteers. One of them was a lieutenant of Hun- 
garian origin, a member of the staff of the Tsar's 



OFFICERS AND FRIENDS 153 

yacht; the second, a naval engineer, was of German 
extraction; the third, a remarkably clever Japanese 
scholar, was of pure Swedish blood. Little did we 
think, when they used to dress in Japanese costumes 
and drink tea in the Eastern manner, that in a few 
years they would be engaged in a life-and-death 
struggle with the Japanese whose language and 
peculiar social ceremonials this member of our party 
had mastered so thoroughly. Like most Russian 
officers, they were all splendid linguists, speaking 
English, French and German with equal fluency. 
They had all been to Japan, and had married there, 
and, as with many other Europeans, the three little 
Japanese wives had made these world-wanderers 
so happy and comfortable that they did not wish 
to return. But at the call of duty they said the 
sad farewells, and came back to "little Siberia" 
to work and perhaps to remember. 

When I eventually removed to St. Petersburg, 
my duties as foreign correspondent brought me into 
contact with officers of the Guards, from whom I 
learnt a good deal about not only the Russian Army, 
but the other Continental forces, the qualities of 
which we were continually discussing. To me the 
most interesting of all these friends was General 
Mansers of the Imperial Staff, with whom I lived 
for three years. His name had been corrupted from 



154 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

Manners, and he informed me that he was 
descended from Lord Manners, Duke of Rutland, 
who fled to Sweden after the battle of Tewkesbury 
or one of the great struggles that took place in the 
Wars of the Roses. When Finland was taken over 
by Russia many Swedish officers entered the Rus- 
sian service. 

This general, a handsome little man with aristo- 
cratic bearing, had two ambitions — to see his an- 
cestral estates in England, and to marry an English 
wife. Unfortunately he died before he could carry 
out either of these laudable aims. General Mansers 
spoke French and Swedish to perfection. He fre- 
quently visited Berlin, where he was much impressed 
by the Prussian troops ; he told me that he detested 
the Prussians, but could not help admiring their 
Guards, than which he had seen no finer body any- 
where. He had only once been to London ; .had he 
seen our Grenadier Guards and the Highlanders he 
might have altered his opinion, for better soldiers it 
would be difficult to find than these brave fellows 
who have so successfully withstood the attacks of 
the flower of the German Army. 

General Mansers, who was a keen student of his- 
tory, used to affirm that there were only seven great 
"Polkovodzee" (military leaders) who by genius 
had transformed the art of war : these were, if I re- 



OFFICERS AND FRIENDS 155 

member correctly, Alexander the Great, Hannibal, 
Csesar, Eugene of Savoy, Gustavus Adolphus, Mar- 
shal Saxe and Napoleon. Why Moltke, Marlbor- 
ough and Wellington were not included in the list 
I could not understand; but not being a military 
expert I deemed it wiser to accept this dictum in 
silence. According to students, Cromwell and 
Charles XII were great cavalry leaders, but not 
"Polkovodzee." 

In the same house where I then lived — in fact, 
in the adjoining apartments — was the great-grand- 
son of that famous Swedish officer Colonel Michel- 
son, who suppressed the insurrection of the Cos- 
sack Pugacheff after several of Catherine's ablest 
generals had been defeated. This young officer, 
who was only about twenty-eight years of age, was 
exceedingly handsome, tall, fair, of erect carriage, 
with blue eyes, golden hair, and a fresh ruddy 
complexion. Although his family had resided in 
Russia since the days of Catherine II, he preserved 
the Viking appearance unaltered, in common with 
many Russian officers whose Varangian ancestors 
came over in the ninth and tenth centuries. Michel- 
son was remarkably studious, and spent most of 
his time reading up for examinations, or in the 
study of books on tactics and strategy. He re- 
sembled more the type of officer I had often met 



156 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

in Germany than the merry, happy-go-lucky and 
extravagant Russian of the 'eighties whom I so 
often encountered at balls and supper-parties. 
"Wein, weib, und gesang" then occupied their at- 
tention, just as tennis, polo, cricket, hunting and 
other sports absorb the superfluous energy of many 
of our own men. The bitter lesson of the Japanese 
War, however, taught many a thoughtless, reckless 
young officer that soldiering means more than 
pleasure-seeking, and that sooner or later comes a 
day when those who neglect to make themselves 
proficient in their profession must pay a heavy pen- 
alty. So it happened with many a merry soul on 
the battlefields of Mukden and on the Yalu River. 
The lessons of that sanguinary campaign have 
caused the General Staff to introduce numerous re- 
forms, often due to the painstaking care of General 
Koorapatkine, who, if not a first-class leader, is 
without doubt a second Kitchener as regards power 
of organisation and looking after the material needs 
of the men committed to his charge. The officers 
have become much more serious than they were in 
the days before so many disasters befell their coun- 
try's arms. Judging from what I learnt on the 
Continent prior to the outbreak of the present Arm- 
ageddon, the money, time and care have not been 
wasted, and the Russian Army now in action is far 



OFFICERS AND FRIENDS 157 

more efficient than it has been for very many years. 
An instance occurs in the aviation department; 
large sums have been spent, until in aeroplanes Rus- 
sia is almost on a level with France and Germany. 
With Zeppelins and other dirigibles she is far be- 
hind still, and may suffer in consequence. 

After leaving St. Petersburg I spent several sum- 
mers at Krasno Selo, where the manoeuvres are 
held; there I constantly met officers of high rank. 

The most interesting of all was General R 1, 

adjutant to Alexander III, and former commandant 
of a large section of the artillery stationed always 
on the Austrian frontier. A jollier soul than this 
old general I have seldom known. Although nearly 
seventy, he had all the energy and vitality of youth. 
He laughed, danced, sang and even drank with the 
liveliest; but with all his gaiety he kept thoroughly 
an fait with his professional work. He delighted in 
gathering friends round him and relating anecdotes 
and adventures of his younger days in the Turkish 
and other wars. He had fought under three Em- 
perors, and naturally had plenty of good stories. 
One of the most thrilling was a tale of his battery 
in the Turkish campaign. At Plevna all the men 
of the battery except himself had been shot down, 
and he expected every moment to be killed by the 
advancing enemy, whose soldiers were steadily 



158 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

ascending the slope to take the guns. Seeing that 
resistance was hopeless, he coolly leaned against a 
field-piece and lit a cigarette. As he smoked, the 
Turks drew nearer and nearer with fixed bayonets. 
Just at the critical instant, when he thought all 
was over, a squadron of Cossacks came galloping 
round the hill; they soon routed the Turks, the 
majorit}'- of whom paid dearly for their rash ad- 
vance. 

This officer, who was the grandson of one of the 
last Hospodars of Roumania, was also of foreign 
origin, like so many others. When we remember 
that thousands of these men are of German, Swed- 
ish, Scottish and Polish birth or extraction, we 
can understand why they are not as efficient as 
the officers of other countries. Studying the Rus- 
sian Army and Navy List, we shall be astonished 
at the number of non-Russian names ; even Tartar, 
Mongolian, Caucasian and Greek. As long as they 
have gone through the military school, any post, 
except that of Minister, is open to them, and even 
that is obtainable if the aspirant belongs to the 
State religion. Among old Scottish families that 
have made a home for themselves in Russia and 
have become naturalised the Gordons are famous. 
General Gordon practically ruled during the absence 
of Peter the Great abroad. Admiral Greig, an- 



OFFICERS AND FRIENDS 159 

other Scotsman, reorganised the Navy under Cath- 
erine; Barclay de Toll fought Napoleon in 1812; 
and Todleben raised the wonderful fortifications 
of Sevastopol that gave so much trouble to the Al- 
lies. There are also Levins, Leslies, Stewarts, Clay- 
hills and a host of other Scottish names, the ma- 
jority of which came into Finland and the Baltic 
Provinces during the reigns of Gustavus Adolphus 
or Peter the Great, or before these provinces were 
annexed. Others are of Polish, Swedish and Ger- 
man origin. One of Catherine's most trusted gen- 
erals was an Englishman, who rejoiced in the home- 
ly name of Brown. The great Skobeleff is said to 
have been of English origin, and traced his descent 
from a Captain Skobel, an officer in the army of 
Catherine II. Though perhaps not so refined and 
cultivated as our own, these gentlemen are for the 
most part hearty, jolly, manly fellows; fond of 
liquor, dancing, fun, cards, and the fair sex — ^pos- 
sibly too fond of these pleasures to be good sol- 
diers. In such a vast army there must be all cate- 
gories — frivolous, ignorant, cultured, studious — ■ 
as in other armies. But I should say that offi- 
cers and non-commissioned officers of the line regi- 
ments in Russia, though certainly tough, rough 
and ready, hardy soldiers, are inferior in training 
and education to the English and German and 



i6o THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

French. In the Guards, however, and in the regi- 
ments stationed along the Austrian and German 
frontiers, there are many brilHant officers and fine 
soldiers, who in the Japanese War had no chance of 
showing their ability. Some of these are now be- 
ginning to show what metal they are made of, 
doubtless to the surprise of the Austrians. 

From one of the leading generals who took an 
active part in the siege of Plevna, I learnt that the 
military arrangements were so inefficient that had 
it not been for the corruption of the Turkish Pashas 
the entire army of invasion would have perished 
on the other side of the Danube. The Russians 
prefer to "muddle through" hke ourselves; but that 
bad habit has cost them so much in men and money 
that in future they will trust less to luck and more 
to sound preparation. 

Among the men who have done so much to im- 
prove the fighting forces we must not forget the 
late General Dragoniroff, whose handbooks on the 
subject of soldiering have been translated into al- 
most every European tongue. Another notable 
General is Rennenkampf, who in the Japanese War 
gained great distinction for himself and his cavalry. 
In the present conflict this brilliant man is again 
winning honours. General Linevitch, the "old 
wolf," was also the idol of his men in Manchuria, 



OFFICERS AND FRIENDS i6i 

where he saw more active service than Koorapat- 
kine and others who were there before him; rrot 
until the Army was in difficulties was this old war- 
rior appointed to the position he should have held 
at first. At Mukden he retreated in good order to 
Tieling, with his entire army intact, while those of 
Koorapatkine and Orleff were fearfully broken; 
in addition to saving his men, he brought with him 
to Tieling seven Japanese cannon and several thou- 
sand prisoners. Shortly after the conclusion of the 
war General Linevitch, worn out with toil, and dis- 
appointed by the ingratitude and neglect which had 
been his portion, was called to his well-earned rest. 

Michenko, a Little Russian, is another celebrated 
cavalry officer; but whether he will again achieve 
fame remains to be seen. Grippenberg, Kaulbars 
and Stackelberg are three more excellent comman- 
ders of whom, if they still live, we ought to hear 
in the course of the fighting on the Continent. The 
Army has many hitherto unknown leaders only 
awaiting an opportunity to distinguish themselves; 
such a one is General Russky, whose name none of 
us had heard until he brought it into world-promi- 
nence by his fine action at Lemberg. 

Most of the skilled generals who took part in 
the last war are now too old for active service, or 
have passed away. Koorapatkine, after writing 



i62 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

the memoirs in which he endeavoured to acquit him- 
self of blame for the series of defeats sustained by 
the forces under his control, has retired to his beau- 
tiful Finnish estate, where he will hear only echoes 
of the clash of arms. General Sacharoff, Chief of 
Staff, I believe was assassinated. General Tserpnit- 
sky, brave and talented, was killed at Port Arthur, 
whilst Grippenberg and Stackelberg, of Swedish and 
German origin respectively, fell into disgrace, prob- 
ably owing to their foreign birth. The modern 
Russian resents being led by men of foreign ex- 
traction, though there have been many officers of 
mixed blood — among them Souvoroff, Gordon, 
Barclay de Toll, Bagriaton, Gourko, Count Witten- 
stein, Todleben, Radetsky and Skobeleff. Koora- 
patkine was, I think, a pure Russ, and so was Koute- 
soff, the Russian ''Cunctator," though one can hardly 
term them first-class military leaders. There is a 
tendency now to eliminate the foreign element, and 
the last Ministers for War were pure Russians. 

Among prominent officers who doubtless will have 
much to say during the present war we may note 
the following: General J. Martsen, Commander-in- 
Chief of the Wilna Military Circuit; General R. 
Suchomiloff, Minister for War; the Grand Duke 
Nicholas, General of the Cavalry, Commander-in- 
Chief of the Regiments of the Guard for the mill- 



OFFICERS AND FRIENDS 163 

tary district of St. Petersburg; General Skalon, 
Commander-in-Chief of the Warsaw MiHtary Cir- 
cuit; and General Ivanoff, Commander-in-Chief of 
the Kieff Circuit. As this war goes on we shall 
probably hear a good deal of these clever men, also, 
no doubt, of others such as Russky, whose names 
have not yet become highly distinguished. 



MILITARY SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XIV 
MILITARY SCHOOLS 

IN Petrograd, Moscow, Odessa, Omsk, Tomsk, 
Irkutsk, and man}^ other towns of Russia and 
Siberia are some very fine military academies. These 
buildings are on so elaborate a scale that they might 
well be taken for palaces ; others, such as the Sap- 
pers' School in Petrograd and the Corps de Pages, 
have actually been palaces in days gone by. This 
is a subject which some of our own officers might 
well take up, for it is worthy of attention. I do not 
remember how many thousands of officers the 
schools turn out annually, but it is a very impressive 
total, for there are about 70,000 officers in the Rus- 
sian Army — 30,000 commissioned and 40,000 non- 
commissioned. The majority of the best officers are 
educated in these academies, which I have often 
visited with great satisfaction and pleasure. I have 
also frequently attended the shooting contests at 
Krasno Selo between the cadets and the infantry of 
the Guards, and have been surprised to see that the 
highly trained cadets from the military academies 

167 



i68 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

made better scoring than the ordinary artillery-men. 
Perhaps this could be explained by the fact that the 
latter are neither so well trained nor so scientific 
as the cadets. 

That excellent work, "Die Russiche Arme," pub- 
lished in Berlin in 1912, has some pertinent remarks 
on this subject. The author says : "The technical 
education of the officers is looked after by the vari- 
ous military academies, which train and educate 
the cadets according to the branch of service they 
have decided to enter. The Nicholas Military Acad- 
emy prepares candidates for the staff after they 
have served three years in the regular army. The 
Michael Artillery Academy, named after the Grand 
Duke Michael, trains officers for the artillery of the 
Guard, The Nicholas Academy of Engineers is 
for officers who wish to become military engineers 
and sappers. The Alexander Juridical Academy is 
for the benefit of officers who wish to be instructors 
in the military schools. Another academy trains of- 
ficers for the commissariat department ; while lastly, 
the Medical Academy takes charge of the education 
of the army doctors." 

It would take too long to describe all the similar 
military institutions in the Empire. They are all 
being maintained in a high state of efficiency at the 
cost of many millions of roubles annually. Enough, 



MILITARY SCHOOLS 169 

however, has been written to show what a great 
amount of energy and wealth is directed into the 
single channel of the Army, also to indicate what a 
glowing future is in store for Russia directly her 
vast resources become more consolidated and better 
organised. Her very vastness is her greatest weak- 
ness, and if she does not emerge triumphant from 
the present struggle it will not be for the want of 
men, money, or natural wealth, but by reason of 
the internal dissensions which are so liable gradually 
to weaken her gigantic power for offence. In much 
the same way racial and religious hatred is paralys- 
ing the strength and efficiency of the Austrian 
Army. The constant and, it seems, inevitable in- 
ternal discontent is Russia's greatest enemy, rather 
than the power or number of the Austro-German 
troops, against whom, so far, she has more than 
held her own. 

In taking her Army into consideration, we must 
remember that a very considerable portion of it 
cannot be used for offensive purposes. I should 
say that at least one million men must be kept in 
Finland, the Baltic Provinces, Poland, Little Rus- 
sia, and the Caucasus to watch the disaffected ele- 
ments of the population and to repress any attempts 
to throw off allegiance to the Tsar. If the Poles, 
Finns, Caucasians, Little Russians, and the inhabi- 



170 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

tants of the Baltic Provinces are loyal and give no 
trouble, Russia should not only be able to inflict a 
crushing defeat on Germany, but might also annex 
Galicia and the Slavonic provinces of Austria ; thus 
w^ould her power and influence over the Slavs be 
increased. But her offensive power, as I have noted, 
entirely depends on the internal political state of the 
country ; and on this depends essentially her success 
in the terrible struggle. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 

WHETHER Russia is victorious or not, 
whether she is triumphant or humihated, in 
the Titanic struggle, it is evident that it is only a 
question of time for her to become the first power 
in Europe. Greater Russia has been closed too long 
to Western influences, and if this war stimulates 
interest in her great future and vast resources it 
will have at least one bright side. Siberia alone, 
which contains sorrie of the richest corn-growing 
land in the world, is about twice the size of our 
Continent. It is said that the black-earth belt, on 
which the finest crops can be raised, stretches for 
several thousand miles, from the Altai mountains in 
Asia to the Carpathians in Europe. On this suf- 
ficient wheat could be grown to feed the whole of 
Europe and a large part of Asia besides. There 
is so much spare land, in fact, that it could support 
if necessary 600 millions of inhabitants instead of 
the present 180 millions. 

Russia, although only a young State, has shown 
that her people have been gifted by nature with 
those intellectual and spiritual qualities without 

^72> 



174 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

which no race can ever attain true greatness; she 
has produced men of the first rank in wellnigh every 
important walk of hfe. In literature we find Push- 
kin, Lermontoff, Gogol, Turgenieff, Tolstoi, Dostoi- 
effsky, Gorki, Tchekoff, and many others; some 
of these may well be compared with the greatest 
geniuses of ancient or modern times. Gogol re- 
sembles Dickens, but he is a Dickens full of poetry 
and unfathomable depths of feeling and sorrow. 
Those who have heard "the bitter laughter of his 
weeping," as he calls his writings, do not easily 
forget it. 

In music, Russia has many great names, some 
of which are beginning to be known in England. 
Already she has produced a National Opera, with 
notable composers such as Glinka, Rubenstein, 
Tchaikoffsky, Rimsky Korsakoff, Dargominski. 
Her engineers have spanned the Empire with rail- 
ways which are the wonder of the travelling world; 
in art and in medicine her sons are making them- 
selves known, and as soldiers we have seen their 
imprint on history. If in the space of two hundred 
years Russia could attain such distinction, what will 
she accomplish when her millions are educated, 
when they have had the benefit of the increased in- 
tercourse with the worlds of art and science which 
we and our nearer neighbours now enjoy? Her 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 175 

power for good or for evil will be doubled, and 
the day will approach when Napoleon's prophecy, 
though delayed, will come true. 

Over the future, however, a veil of darkness lies ; 
the horizon is now clouded by the fog and dust of 
war — a war in which the rougher passions hold 
sway and master the finer instincts of the people. 
It seems that we must pass through this Inferno 
before Europe will learn how to maintain peace 
without the aid of cruel armaments that even in 
tranquil times tend to crush the life out of so- 
called Christian and civilised nations. The present 
war, the final effects of which we shall never see, is 
the most terrible in the world's history; in com- 
parison with it all others seem but child's play. 
The officers and experienced soldiers taking part 
in it say that they have never known anything to 
equal the magnitude of its horrors or the suffering 
it has already caused. 

A Russian writer, whose name is u-nfami-Iiar to 
me, says : "In truth, the whole world now be- 
holds what terrific proportions modern warfare can 
attain, and one involuntarily asks the question, 
What is going to happen next, if we proceed still 
further — in our Christian era — in perfecting the im- 
plements for mutual destruction? There can only 
be one answer to this question : humanity is march- 



1/6 THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

ing towards self-extermination. War will thus be- 
come an absurdity, since all the belligerents will 
become mutual exterminators of one another; and 
the word 'victor' will bear the same meaning for 
all— Ruin." 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 

A FEW details of the extent of Russia's ter- 
ritory may be of interest as giving an idea 
of the resources open to her in times of emergency. 

The total area of the Empire in Europe and 
North Asia exceeds 8,660,000 square miles — that 
is, it forms one-sixth of the land surface of the 
globe. The length of the land frontier line in 
Europe is 2800 miles; in Asia, nearly 10,000 miles. 
The greatest breadth of territory from north to 
south is 2932 miles, and the greatest length from 
east to west is 7680 miles. 

This tremendous expanse is divided into eighteen 
Provinces, seventy-seven Governments, and two 
Circuits. A single Russian Government is frequent- 
ly the size of one of the largest of the other Euro- 
pean States, while an "Oojezd" (District), the 
minor division of a Province, is often as large as 
Holland or Belgium. Germany and Austria com- 
bined are only equal in area to two of Russia's larger 
Governments. 

As regards population, I have already given some 
remarkable figures. The immense increase, even 

179 



i8o THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

in the short period since the close of the war with 
Japan, shows perhaps better than anything else the 
niarvellous vitality and power of recuperation of 
the Russian people. Of the total population of the 
Empire, the majority are Orthodox Slavs. There 
are about lo million Catholic Poles, 5 million Lithu- 
anians, 5 million Jews, 5 million Germans, and 
probably 13 million Tartars, Caucasians, Tchoo- 
vash, Finnish, and other races, from whom Russia 
can obtain vast numbers of soldiers if necessary. 
I should say that over 100 million of the people 
belong to the Orthodox Greek Church ; the remain- 
der comprise Dissenters, Roman Catholics, Ma- 
hommedans, and Buddhists. 



